McCarthy reveals special mindset that drove Treaty to glory
McCarthy has always had special connection with Limerick supporters
THAT the fans have a chant in his honour says everything about Richie McCarthy’s cult hero status in Limerick.
Republic of Ireland soccer supporters idolised Paul McGrath in a couple of famous lines, Hill 16 had a special chorus for Jason Sherlock, and the AllIreland hurling champions have one player whose name is part of a personal tribute.
‘Ooooh, Richie McCarthy… Ooooh, Richie McCarthy.’ It started up after he entered the field in the 50th minute, first substitute on for full-back Mike Casey whose body just gave up on him after doing a heroic job putting the shackles on man-mountain Jonathan Glynn. McCarthy’s vital statistics in the match day programme have him at just 5ft 10in. Compare that to his opponent who touches 6ft 5in. And that’s before the Galway full-forward puts that long arm and gloved hand up to increase his natural advantage.
But McCarthy is such a popular figure for a reason. 2018 represents the 10th season on the panel for the Blackrock player who started in the forwards before turning into a crowdlifting number three, slugging it out with some of the best forwards in the modern game, having his share of tough moments but enduring as a rousing figure that connected with the crowd in a special way. His reputation has stood the test of time and he played his part in stemming the maroon tide.
‘I saw Mike Casey went down with his ankle in the first half and I was kind of preparing myself… I think he went down with cramp in the end. I suppose you’re mad to get into it. You’re very nervous at the start, your legs are gone to jelly as such, but when you get the first ball and get the first tackle, you’re into the game straight away.
‘You’re training 10 or 11 months and all your life for these occasions so that’s where you want to be. He [Glynn] was a big lad. I kind of knew “get the ball to the ground” was the brief from the management before I went on, “make sure he doesn’t catch it”. He caught one I think but I think he scuffed the shot in the end. We don’t really care at this stage as long as we won.’
In the 2013 and 2014 All-Ireland semi-finals, he was on the edge of the square with Tom Condon beside him. That two of Limerick’s elder statesmen — both of them after hitting 30 — played out the drama-soaked period of added time together meant something. ‘Yeah, I suppose. Leading up to the game we had a lot of A versus B games and the B team were winning a good few of them which shows the strength of our panel. I suppose myself and Tom would be considered the old guard with this team so when that last ball came in I was just thinking back to 2014 when Kilkenny got a flick to that goal in that unreal weather back in the day. I was thinking “this isn’t going to happen today”. But we got over the line.’
Richie Power broke Limerick hearts that day. Sunday was different. When Joe Canning’s late, late attempt at an equalising free dropped short, the ball popped up for Condon to get his hands on and burst clear, the final whistle sounding with his pass to Tom Morrissey.
‘Shane Dowling spoke during the week and said “Why can’t we win the game by six or seven points? Why do we always have to be chasing the game? Go out and f ***** g win it, play with a bit of abandonment, we’re well capable of it.”
‘That’s the culture we should have in Limerick. Why do we always have to be chasing teams? Why can’t we take the forefront and win by six or seven points? We were kind of cruising to victory. That was our fault maybe with five or 10 minutes to go, we kind of had the image in our head “is this real?” and they started building the scores.
‘Being honest as a player, you do look up at the clock and you’re thinking “please time come on come on, be on our side”. When we saw eight minutes, that’s an eternity. Dec Hannon cleared one, I thought it was nearly up but it was 74 minutes and then they’re eking their way back into your lead. I suppose they’re quality champions as well, they never panicked. They took their points, got their goal at a vital stage, got their second goal and Graeme Mulcahy got a great score to put us two points ahead which was vital.’
It meant he got his moment, celebrating wildly with the Liam MacCarthy Cup in front of the Hill, his name ringing out. ‘In the buildup to the game, even when you’re sleeping during the week, I always had the image in my head of running around Croke Park with that trophy in our hands and I wanted to go up to Hill 16 and go absolutely nuts with it which I did.’
The Galway manager had a simple few words of advice — ‘Micheál Donoghue came into the dressingroom after, he said “the one thing ye do, enjoy this” — before financier and Limerick’s number one fan, JP McManus, offered his congratulations.
‘We wanted to throw him up in the air but we just shook his hand, that’s all you can do. As I said before, it’s surreal. The older lads, myself, Condon, Seamie Hickey, Nickie [Quaid], not in your wildest dreams did you think we’d... you always want to think you’d get there, but you had to get there, before I retired anyway I just had to get there.’
He did that and more.