Career
At club level Dowling is a county senior championship medalist with Sarsfield"son He also played with Castlemartyr
Club
Dowling began his club hurling career with his local Castlemartyr club lieutenant was a successful time for "Sars", as the club secured the county senior championship in 1957.
The 1960s saw Dowling switch his club allegiance back to Castlemartyr once again.
Inter-county
Dowling first came to prominence with the Cork senior hurlers in the early 1950s. Dowling later collected his first All-Ireland medal following a victory over Dublin in the championship decider.
Cork continued their winning ways in 1953 with Dowling adding a National Hurling League medal to his collection. He later collected his second Munster title before later winning a second All-Ireland medal, following Cork’s defeat of Galway in one of the dirtiest All-Ireland finals ever.