Growing up in Kilgarvan, hurling, for which he would win two Kerry county championship medals, cycling and Gaelic football were his favourite sports. On long summer evenings in Kilgarvan, they hurled until dusk, changing to football when it became too dark to see the smaller hurling ball (sliotar). The echo of the clash of the ash and the crisp thud of a sliotar were clarion calls to young men who would rush to Kilgarvan sportsfield as soon as cows were milked and another day’s work on the farm was done. Hurling in Kerry is largely confined to a number of parishes in the northern half of the county, while Kilgarvan and neighbouring Kenmare are the traditional hurling strongholds of the southern side of Kerry. The fifties marked the golden era of hurling in Kilgarvan, which won its first county senior title in 1953. Jackie had emigrated to the US by then. However, on returning home he won his first county championship in 1956 and the second in 1958. He also played football with Kilgarvan and competed in cycling events at sports meetings around south Kerry.