‘LIFE STORIES’
BALLYHOOLY NATIVE’S LIFETIME RECORDED IN PRINT
Engineer, volunteer, family man, sports fan and sportsman are just some of the ways that Fermoy local John McCarthy can be described.
A community man, John’s life has been documented through the ‘Life Stories’ project, an initiative delivered by Avondhu Blackwater Partnership. Undertaken in association with Mary Allen, AVP Community Connect co-ordinator, the aim of the project is to record people’s life stories, so that they will remain in their families for generations to come.
In 2016, John was invited to attend a social event held at Avondhu Blackwater Partnership at the Mill, Castletownroche by the late Dave Roche in which seven people, including Dave himself, were presented with their Life Stories, and so began the process of recording John’s own achievements throughout his life.
Speaking with TheAvondhu recently, John said he and John Madden, who recorded the story, met approximately ten times in order to record his own life and times.
John’s story begins on a family farm in Woodview, Ballyhooly where his father, John and his mother, Elizabeth raised John and his siblings, where the boys in the family carried out a lot of laborious work as there was no electricity and little machinery available at the time.
LOVE OF SPORT
Sport became a firm favourite of John’s, something that remains until this day, with the family interest in sport leading to them building a tennis court in the back garden and using the field south of the house for many games.
From 1949 to 1957, John attended Ballyhooly National School and then from 1957 until 1962, he attended St Colman’s College, Fermoy where his interest in sport blossomed.
As there was no GAA team in Ballyhooly at the time, John played with Castletownroche, earning a North Cork U21 hurling medal in 1963, 1964 and 1970.
1964 also saw him win a Munster intermediate hurling medal with Cork and in 1965, an All-Ireland intermediate hurling medal with thr Rebel county.
While studying at UCC, John played for the College team in the Fitzgibbon Cup on three occasions. In 1964/65 they were beaten by UCD at Pearse Stadium in Galway; 1965/66 saw them beat UCD in the final at the Mardyke in Cork, when John was vice-captain of the UCC team, and again in 1966/67 when they beat UCD in the final at Croke Park in Dublin.
Easily turning his hand to several sports, he was member of Fermoy Golf Club and was on the committee from 1985 to 1990, serving as president in 1988.
John has also represented the town of Fermoy in hurling, football, rugby, squash, racquetball and golf. Recognition of his sporting achievements saw him receive the Castletownroche GAA Club Hall of Fame award in 2015.
During his time at UCC, John’s mother purchased The Grand Hotel at Ashe Quay in Fermoy and oversaw a period of great activity and development, including major renovations and extensions where she remained general manager of the hotel from 1965 to 1973 when she sold it.
Coincidentally, the first function to be held in the function room of the hotel was the wedding of Nuala Murphy and Paul Connell in 1967, Nuala being John’s sisterin-law.
Three years later, John would get engaged to Kathryn (Murphy) and marry her in 1971, taking up residence at Greenhill, Fermoy in 1972, where they still live today.
VOLUNTARY WORK
In 1967 John qualified from UCC with a degree in Civil Engineering which only served to extend his involvement with local clubs and organisations, as he began volunteering his engineering services, overseeing a number of major developments. The majority of his voluntary work involved drawing up plans and designs and sometimes overseeing construction works.
Local projects which John was involved in include developments at Fermoy GAA Club and Fitzgerald Park, and a number of other clubs and associations, as well as developments at Cluain Dara, Queen of Peace Church, St Joseph’s NS, St Colman’s College and Loreto Convent.
Ballyhooly, Castletownroche, Kilworth, Kildorrery, Glanworth, Shanballymore and Kilshannig also saw the benefits of John’s volunteering work.
Fermoy GAA Club presented the Ballyhooly native with the Clubman of the Year Award in 1985 ‘for his outstanding work on the grounds development’.
The Cavanagh Fermoy Area Sports and Community Award in 1985 was awarded to John for his community involvement and voluntary contribution to engineering works (up to December 31, 1984).
At the gala presentation dinner dance at The Grand Hotel, Fermoy in 1986, John spoke on behalf of the recipients and guests at the gala.
John’s professional career also saw him involved in a number of major projects both at home and further afield, having worked with Cork County Council, E.G. Pettit & Co. Consulting Engineers Ltd, Fermoy Urban District Council and with his own company with Tim Murphy, Murphy McCarthy Consulting Engineers Ltd.
On qualifying from UCC, John’s work with E.G. Pettit & Co saw him turn his hand to projects such as the Cork Main Drainage Scheme and extensive harbour surveys. He also designed a number of effluent treatment plants and supervised their construction, including the Carbery Milk Products treatment plants in Ballineen, the Mitchelstown Creameries treatment plant and the Castlelyons Co-Op treatment plant, among many others.
1980 saw John take a trip to Georgia in Vermont with E.G. Pettit & Co, where they were employed to investigate problems regarding pollution from five cheese plants in the state. Following completion of the project, John was invited to deliver a paper
on the design criteria of the treatment plant by the New England Water Pollution Control Association at their Spring meeting held at Smugglers Notch, Jeffersonville, Vermont.
From September 1985 to December 1988, John worked as a Senior Resident Engineer on the Fermoy Main Drainage Scheme and was responsible for the supervision of all aspects of the scheme.
Murphy McCarthy Consulting Engineers Ltd commenced practice in 1989 and saw through a wide range of successful projects from hotels to hospitals and from industrial to municipal work.
Speaking about the company, John told TheAvondhu that he and Tim ‘worked very well together’, noting that there was always a ‘lovely atmosphere’ at work.
A surprise party at the Killarney Park Hotel in 2008 saw a great send-off for John upon his retirement, having contributed to so many major projects in Fermoy and its surrounds.
“John’s work and his sporting interests carried him around the world, but it was in his local area that John devoted so much of his time to his voluntary work,” Mary Allen told
TheAvondhu. LIFE IN PRINT
In 2011, the Ballyhooly native had the honour of being invited to the first-ever meeting of the Men’s Club at Fermoy Youth Centre, where Mary Allen introduced the concept after noticing the lack of opportunities for older men to socialise in the area.
John was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012 and combined with other medical issues, such as severe arthritis on three back disks, he has been left with serious mobility issues, however, he is grateful for all the help his family has given him.
With his Life Story recorded by John Madden, compiled and prepared for print by Mary Allen, an official presentation of the Life Story was unable to take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
When asked what he hoped would become of his Life Story, John said his wish was that it would be there for his family and friends in the years to come.