His league and championship career at senior level with the Kerry county team spanned fifteen seasons from 1973 to 1988.
He first appeared for the Austin Stacks club at underage levels, before winning an All-Ireland medal with the senior team in 1977.
Sheehy made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was picked on the Kerry minor team.
Sheehy subsequently joined the Kerry under-21 team, winning two All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship medals in 1973 and 1975.
After being chosen on the Munster inter-provincial team for the first time in 1976, Sheehy was an automatic choice on the starting fifteen for the following seven years.
[1] Sheehy also won seven All-Stars, while his tally of eight All-Ireland medals, albeit one as a non-playing substitute, is also a record which he shares with fellow Kerry players Páidí Ó Sé, Pat Spillane and Denis "Ógie" Moran.
Austin Stacks retained their title in 1976 before later representing the county in the provincial club series, and even reaching the final.
A narrow 1–7 to 0–8 defeat of St Finbarr's gave Sheehy a Munster club winners' medal.
[3] By the early 1970s, Sheehy had joined the Kerry minor football team; however, he had no success in this grade, as Cork dominated the provincial championship.
He quickly progressed onto the Kerry under-21 team, where he captured a Munster Under-21 Football Championship title in 1973, following a one-goal defeat of Cork.
Sheehy made his senior inter-county debut for Kerry in the 1973–1974 National Football League campaign.
[6] Sheehy retained his place as a substitute for Kerry's unsuccessful Munster Senior Football Championship campaign.
That year Sheehy won his first senior Munster title, dethroning Cork as provincial champions in the process.
Reigning champions Dublin provided the opposition, and were installed as the favourites over the youngest Kerry team of all time.
On a rain-soaked day, John Egan and substitute Ger O'Driscoll scored two goals, and Dublin were beaten by 2–12 to 0–11.
[citation needed] The Kerry forward lobbed the ball over the head of Paddy Cullen, who was caught off his line arguing with the referee, Seamus Aldridge.
[10] In 1979, Kerry made it five-in-a-row in Munster, as Cork fell by ten points in the provincial final.
Another defeat of Cork in the provincial final gave Sheehy a sixth Munster winners' medal in succession.
Sheehy popped up again to score a decisive goal, as Kerry went on to claim a 1–9 to 1–6 victory in a game that contained sixty-four frees.
[13] In 1982, Sheehy secured an eighth consecutive Munster final victory over Cork, and Kerry's record-breaking All-Ireland SFC five-in-a-row bid remained intact.
'The Kingdom' recovered the following year, with Sheehy winning his third National League medal and his ninth Munster title.