At club level he played with Borris–Ileigh and was also a member of the Tipperary senior hurling team.
Stapleton first played hurling as a schoolboy at Templemore Vocational School while also lining out at juvenile and underage levels with the Borris–Ileigh club.
He was at full-back of the Borris–Ileigh team that beat Rathnure in the 1987 All-Ireland club final.
[1][2] Stapleton first played for Tipperary during a two-year tenure at minor level.
He progressed to the under-21 team and was an unused substitute when Tipperary were beaten by Galway in the 1978 All-Ireland under-21 final.