 The Gift as he is known on and off the field by his peers, plays hurling with his local club Tullamore and was a member of the Offaly and London senior inter-county teams at various times during the 1980s.Damiens hurling career started in 1964 aged 3 as the Tullamore team mascot, with whom his father played, that won the Offaly senior hurling title.In 1977 at just 16, Damien himself was on the Tullamore first team, which had been relegated to intermediate.