A Ballinroad man, Michael has played folk music all his life. He is one of the few 5-string banjo players in the county and is also a fine guitar player and vocalist. Michael played with musicians such as John Bush (brother of Kate Bush). The band was known as 'The Coven' and Michael played harmonica with them. He started playing guitar after listening to Tom Paxton and finally ended up playing banjo (Michael has a particular love of Bluegrass banjo).

Micahel say’s that the highlight of his career was when he represented Ireland with the group 'Tig an Cheoil' in an international song contest in East Germany. They didn't win but it was some craic. Michael also played on the CD 'The Ring All-stars'.