MASS EMIGRATION IN Ireland during the dark days of the 1940s and ’50s reached levels similar to those of the Great Famine a century earlier.
Jack McCarron’s grandfather was one of the many to leave these shores in search of a better life. A footballer with Scotstown, he emigrated to Luton in the ’50s and missed out on the club’s first every senior county final victory in 1960 and their second win a year later.
Ray McCarron, Jack’s father, was born in 1963 and spent the first 16 years of his life in the Bedfordshire town, which had a strong Monaghan connection. He kicked ball with Luton club St. Vincents, before the McCarrons moved home in 1979.
Ray spent most of his time in England playing soccer, but his raw talent meant he was called into the Monaghan minors soon after moving to Ireland. He played with the Monaghan minors for two years made his senior debut for the Farney in the 1983 McKenna Cup semi-final against Donegal.
Just four years after moving to Ireland for the first time, McCarron was a regular with the Monaghan seniors. A classy left-footed forward, he retired in ’96 with a National League medal, two Ulster titles and an All-Star to show for his efforts.
He also picked up multiple senior county titles with Scotstown during an illustrious club career.
Ray married Patricia Clerkin, binding together two of families of GAA royalty in Monaghan. Patricia is a sister of Hugo, a former team-mate of Ray’s who was a standout player for the Farney during the ’70s and ’80s.
Patricia’s nephew Dick Clerkin was born in 1981 and would go on to enjoy a remarkable 17-year career with the county, and equal his father’s record of two Ulster medals.
Patricia gave birth to Ellen in 1991 and Jack arrived a year later. In an interview with Hogan Stand magazine in 1993, Ray was quizzed about his son’s footballing prospects.
“I’ll leave it to himself,” he said. “It’s better that way. If youngsters want to play…they’ll play. You can’t pressurise them. Of course, he’ll get every encouragement, but no pressure.”
With footballing pedigree oozing through their veins, it wasn’t long before the McCarron siblings started tearing it up on the football field.
Also a forward, Ellen was 18 when she featured off the bench in her first senior All-Ireland final with Monaghan in 2008. She started subsequent final appearances in 2011 and 2013. All three were lost to Cork.
“It’s only football in our house, there’s no other topic of conversation,” she told the Irish Independent in 2013.
Jack was called into the Monaghan panel for the first time in 2012, but Ellen avoided giving him any advice when he was breaking through.
“We don’t really give each other tips but he’d be the first to criticise me and I’d be the first to criticise him,” she quipped.
Jack played with soccer clubs Monaghan United and Dundalk as a teenager, but eventually he chose to follow in the path set by his father, sister, uncle and cousin.
Interestingly, he credits his mother for stoking the flames for his love of football.
“People would always say about my father but my mother was very influential as well,” he told the Irish News this week.
“She was mad to go to games, she’d bring you to watch wherever they were. Even at a young age she’d bring you to watch and bring you to training.”
Jack always had the talent, but injuries cruelly stalled his career from taking flight.
He made five championship appearances in 2014 before suffering a cruciate injury later that year while lining out for his club Currin against Castleblayney.
“It was a nothing match,” he told the Irish Examiner last month. “I was coming down from college on a Wednesday night to play a match. We were already relegated but I played the game anyway and did the cruciate.”
He returned to club duty the following summer before tearing his hamstring that December during a challenge game. The following year was a write-off, as McCarron junior tore his hamstring multiple times, each occasion sending him back to square one.
He made his comeback by starting for Monaghan in the back-door clash with Longford last July, but it turned into a nightmare as his team fell to a shock defeat. Things went from bad to worse when he tore ankle ligaments in a club game later that summer.
McCarron marked his return as a sub in this league camapaign against Cavan on February 12, and he’s started Monaghan’s five league games since then.
McCarron’s contribution on the scoreboard has been one of the key factors in Monaghan’s remarkable league campaign.
“It’s good to be back playing a good bit of football,” added McCarron. “I had a rough couple of years there so it’s great to be back playing and getting on the team. Hopefully, that continues.”
He posted 3-29 in his five starts and took a considerable burden off of the shoulders of Conor McManus who has long been a lone gunslinger in the Farney attack.
McCarron confirmed his arrival as one of the country’s leading forwards with an impressive tally of 1-9 against the reigning league and All-Ireland champions Dublin.
When the sides met in last year’s league, Conor McManus kicked 11 points in Croke Park.
McManus hit 48 percent of Monaghan’s scores in the 2016 league and often found himself double-marked during the championship.
McCarron’s presence gives full-backs another threat to worry about, and also frees up Kieran Hughes to his natural home in midfield alongside his brother Darren.
After spending some long nights in the gym trying to get his body right, Jack is back doing what the McCarrons do best.
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