[4] Sheehy went straight into the Kerry squad in 1951 and made his debut in the Munster Senior Football Championship final win over Cork.
[5] He was named at Left Half Forward for the All-Ireland semi-final replay with Mayo, a game Kerry lost.
[7] He later made his first Munster start at Left Half Forward, where he scored four points in a 0–14 to 1–07 win over Waterford.
At the selection meeting before the All-Ireland final, John Joe excused himself when they reached Paudie's position; by the time he returned, his son had been dropped.
Despite serving as the side's captain at the start of the campaign and their top scorer, Sheehy failed to appear in the game.
[citation needed] Despite scoring in only two of the five games, he played during the 1953–54 National Football League, he still finished as Kerry's third-highest scorer with 1-05.
[citation needed] Sheehy got his chance to line out in a senior final as Kerry squared off with Leinster champions Meath.
[citation needed] He played in all of Kerry's 1954–55 National Football League games but his side failed to make the knockout stages.
Dublin had drawn attention by defeating the reigning champions Meath in the final of that year's Leinster Senior Football Championship in what was a twenty-point win.
For the third year in a row Tipperary were overcome in a game where he scored four points, to set up a Munster final with Waterford.
[citation needed] In the 1960-61 National Football League, he scored 2–06 in six games up to the semi-final replay win over Roscommon.
In what was the first game to be broadcast live on television, Sheehy hit two points as he won a third and final All-Ireland medal 1–12 to 1–06.
[citation needed] He played in his first Kerry Senior Football Championship final in 1949 but was on the losing side to Killarney.
Mitchels returned to the final for the first time since 1952, where they faced the North Kerry divisional team, Feale Rangers.
[citation needed] The Mitchels again reached the final in 1962, and for the third time in four seasons, their opponents were a divisional team again facing Feale Rangers.
[citation needed] Paudie Sheehy was a top student at St Mary's CBS, Tralee and later at University College, Cork (UCC) where he took first-class honours and first place in his final B.Comm.
After staying on at UCC as demonstrator for a year, he subsequently articled at a Limerick firm of auditors before qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1958.
Thereafter he worked as accountant for the Mater Hospital Pools, a sports pools run to provide funds for the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Ford Motor Company of Cork and Liebherr, a German crane manufacturer that established a major plant in Killarney in 1957.
[14] The managing director of this state enterprise, Lt.-Gen. M.J. Costello, saw in his new hire something more than a mere accountant: Sheehy could extract the underlying business implications from the figures.
Economising on travel costs he bought a car to visit and study many businesses of interest across North America.
[14] Such preparation stood Sheehy in good stead with both Irish Sugar and its new subsidiary, Erin Foods, an enterprise dreamed up by Costello to provide summer/fall employment for people in rural Ireland.
[15] After a period in internal audit, Sheehy was appointed secretary to both the Irish Sugar and Erin Foods boards.
[14] A secretary attended all board meetings even if not a director and contributed views regarding regulatory aspects of decisions.
[17][18] Erin Foods offered small farmers an assured market and price for vegetable produce.
To improve their cost base, O'Reilly and his senior management team, including financial controller, Vincent Ferguson,[20] and general manager, Séamus Mac Giolla Ríogh, also pressed the Fianna Fáil government to remove Erin's obligation to buy vegetables uneconomically from Irish farmers.
This and a decision to sell bulk unbranded vegetables to European market consumers led to an agreement to form a partnership with the H.J.
[19] As Irish Sugar and Erin secretary, Sheehy collated for submission reports and projections on the Heinz partnership proposal for the government and shareholders.
The first financial report since Erin's restructuring showed a turnaround in its performance and was submitted to the new Heinz-Erin board of directors before that year's a.g.m.
A heavy local attendance, augmented by numerous acquaintances from the worlds of sport and commerce, made his funeral on 6–7 August 1967 one of the largest seen in Tralee since Independence.