Brian was born on 7th February 1974 in Puckane, County Tipperary, and started playing hurling for his local club Kildangan.
He progressed to play for his home county Tipperary at junior level, earning his place on the Tipperary Under-21 and Munster Under-21 teams, and won an All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship medal for Tipperary in 1995. In 1996, he moved to Waterford where he played with Mount Sion and the Waterford senior team.
At 1.75m (5' 9"), his robust performance at left corner back helped his adopted county beat his native county (reigning All-Ireland Champions) 2-23 to 3-12 to win the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on 30th June 2002.
He is a company executive.
[his portrait is illustrated above; courtesy of the "Irish Independent" newspaper (1st July 2002)]