Billy Dooley was born just outside Clareen, County Offaly in 1969. The fourth youngest in a family of five boys and four girls, he was born into a family that was steeped in hurling history. His father"s uncle, Tom Dooley, as well as his mother"s father and uncle had all played with Offaly in the junior All-Ireland finals in 1929 and 1923 respectively.
He played senior hurling with the Offaly inter-county team from 1991 until 1999. Club
He enjoyed some success at underage levels before winning four senior county championship titles in 1988, 1995, 1996 and 1998. Inter-county
Dooley played with the Offaly minor and under-21 inter-county hurling teams in the late 1980s and had some success.
Later that year he made his Leinster Championship debut.
By the mid-1990s all three Dooley brothers were playing together on the Offaly senior team With five minutes left in the game, Limerick were leading by five points.
Johnny Dooley scored a goal from a 21-yard free which seemed to open the floodgates as Offaly amassed another 1-6 in the remaining few minutes. Offaly had snatched victory away from Limerick and Dooley had claimed his first All-Ireland title at senior level
The Dooleys were back in 1995 winning another Leinster title, however, in the All-Ireland final victory went to Clare.
Three years later in 1998 Offaly and the Dooleys claimed another All-Ireland title over Kilkenny, having lost the Leinster final to the same team In 1999, following a defeat by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final, Dooley decided to retire from inter-county hurling.
In 1986 he came on as a substitute to win an All-Ireland medal at minor level Dooley was a full member of the team when he won his second minor All-Ireland medal in 1988. He joined the senior panel in 1991 when he helped Offaly to win its very first National Hurling League title. Together they won a Leinster title in 1994, before later playing in one of the most famous All-Ireland finals of all-time. Billy finished off the year by winning his first All-Star award. lieutenant was the county’s first All-Ireland win since 1914. There was some consolation as Dooley collected a second All-Star award at the end of the year.
