 He ran for Fianna Fáil in Cork Borough in the general elections of 1943, 1944, 1948, and 1951, being elected only in 1944, to the 12th Dáil, and losing his seat to Jack Lynch in 1948.Furlong was a member of Cork City Council in the 1930s, and was fined 20 shillings in 1935 for harassing the city manager in relation to a constituent's claim for a corporation house.He was re-elected to the council for Fianna Fáil in 1945 and served as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1951.