Diarmuid O'Flynn played his first hurling match at the age of nine, and togged out for the last time in July 2003 at 50, in the Cork Senior Hurling Championship. He worked in construction projects in Ireland, the UK, Iran, Libya and New York before turning to journalism, and writing for the Irish Examiner for 20 years. From 2011 to 2021 he was centrally involved with the Ballyhea Says No campaign against the bank bailouts in Ireland, and subsequently served as an accredited parliamentary assistant in the European Parliament. He retired in 2019, and now lives with his wife Siobhán in Mallow, County Cork.