Matthew Hussey's mother was Bridget Higgins from Naas and he is originally from Cahir, Co Tipperary; played football and hurling at juvenile and minor levels and minor football for Tipperary; later while studying at UCD he played minor handball for Dublin and helped win the first intervarsity handball championship with UCD; after graduating did postgraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, then worked as a medical physicist in Glasgow before returning to work in Dublin Institute of Technology from 1975; produced many research papers and books, mostly on scientific topics, many in Irish, and including, in 2009, the GAA MacNamee award-winning MEMORIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS: 124 YEARS OF THE GAA IN CAHIR - Cuimhní agus Éachtaí: 124 Bliain den ChLG sa Chathair in the compilation of which, he assisted the great Tipperary footballer, Colm O'Flaherty of Cahir.