 O'Donoghue played his club hurling with his local Arravale Rovers club in Tipperary town.O'Donoghue first came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of the Tipperary minor hurling team.He won both Munster and All-Ireland at that grade in 1959 and also won a Harty Cup medal with the Abbey School (CBS) in Tipperary Town, the school's only success in the Munster Senior Colleges Hurling Championship.