A Dundalk native, Tommy was persuaded by player-manager Teddy Harte to join his elder brother Brian at Bangor as a 20 year-old for the 1966/67 season. His record that 1966/67 season was: IL (5), UC (4[1]), GC(1[2]).

Tommy went on to have a remarkable and distinguished footballing career that ultimately earned him 6 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland.

His career took in an estimated 823 first class games, 578 of which were with Dundalk where he spent a total of 18 seasons. He had successful periods at Shamrock Rovers and Waterford and spent some time playing for the Washington Diplomats and New York Apollo in the USA.

He won the League of Ireland four times, the FAI Cup three times and the League of Ireland Cup twice.

Tommy passed away in October 2013 at the age of 67.