JOE MCCARTHY IS a proud Leinster man but his Ireland team-mates have been giving him a ribbing.
You see, his parents are Munster folk.
McCarthy’s mother, Paula, hails from Cashel in Tipperary. His father, Joe, is from Castletownbere in West Cork.
“A few of the lads have been giving me a bit of slagging that I’ve more Munster in me,” says the Ireland second row with a smile.
McCarthy himself was born in New York when his father’s work with AIB brought him there, but the family was back in Ireland by the time Joe was three. They settled in Dublin and his parents have had no choice but to start supporting Leinster.
Joe is part of the senior squad while his younger brother, Paddy, is in of the academy after impressing at prop for the Ireland U20s last season. Their older brother, Andrew, plays tag rugby with the special needs team Seapoint Dragons, so rugby is truly a family affair now.
Joe says he and Paddy would “always be wrestling” when they were growing up and despite their parents not having played, the lads all loved rugby as soon as they took it up.
“It’s always what we’ve done pretty much for our whole lives,” says Joe. “Usually you get nervous for a game and my brother would be like, ‘This is all you’ve done for the last 15 years of your life, all we were doing was rugby,’ so he sort of calms me down.
“It all started in Stradbrook [at Blackrock RFC], playing all the age grades up, me and my brother especially, we’d watch rugby together on TV, Super Rugby in the mornings, watch the internationals if the All Blacks were playing in the mornings on Saturdays. All that, it’s been a huge part of our lives.”
McCarthy went to school in Blackrock College but he wasn’t a school star. It was only in his final year that he really started to show real potential, then he went on to shine for Trinity in the All-Ireland League while he was in the Leinster sub-academy, earning a place in the Ireland U20 squad despite being a year young for that level.
That helped McCarthy secure a spot in the Leinster academy but he was hit by a bad hamstring injury in the 2020/21 season. When he got back, playing for Trinity was important again.
“It was huge,” says McCarthy. “They are fantastic, especially when you’re young, it’s straight into senior rugby, it’s physical.
“And in the AIL, it’s class because you can kind of… when you are with Ireland and Leinster, you’re in a system the way you play to show your strengths, but in the AIL, you can try a few things, practice these little skills, try a few things that maybe other coaches would give out to you, where you have more licence in your club team.”
McCarthy pays tribute to Trinity coaches Tony Smeeth and Hugh Maguire for their role in his progress.
After recovering from the hamstring injury, McCarthy never really looked back. He made his Leinster debut in January 2022 and Ireland boss Andy Farrell liked what he saw. McCarthy spent a week training with the Irish squad only a few months later.
The 6ft 6ins lock toured New Zealand with Farrell’s men last summer, then got his Test debut against Australia in November 2022. An ankle injury meant he didn’t feature in this year’s Six Nations, but he was always part of the World Cup plan.
There was some surprise that Munster’s Jean Kleyn was left out of Ireland’s wider training squad this summer, but Farrell and Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell felt they had their tighthead lock in McCarthy.
His performances in the warm-up games against Italy and England showed why Ireland have been so excited about him and McCarthy could now play a big role in the World Cup. Such is his dynamism, size, and energy, that he will be pushing for a place on the Irish bench when it comes to the biggest games.
This isn’t something he always imagined.
“I remember the 2015 World Cup, I was talking to my friends saying, ‘Jeez, we will be in college for the next World Cup,’” says McCarthy.
“And to think that I would be in the next one is still quite amazing. I would never have thought I would be able to represent Ireland at a World Cup. It’s seriously cool.”
McCarthy, who is in his final year of studying Global Business at Trinity, loves working with O’Connell.
“I don’t think there is anyone better, to be honest,” says McCarthy. ‘He’s unbelievable to work with.
“You just hope a bit of him rubs off on you, how diligent he was in all his prep, he might scout you and pick you up on the smallest thing and train you every single lineout lift, every jump, every breakdown. You have to be 100% on it or he’ll pull you up on it.
“He’s unbelievable to work it, he really understands the players, and you just know you are learning from the best.”
McCarthy’s family will be over in Bordeaux on Saturday if he’s involved. They don’t miss any of his games.
Joe and Paddy playing for Ireland together looks distinctly possible in the future, given how impressive 20-year-old Paddy was for the U20s as they reached the World Championship final over the summer.
“We’ve never played together, he’s two years younger than me,” says Joe.
“We’ve definitely talked about that, it would be class if we get an opportunity to do that.”
- This article was updated at 10.43am to correct a typo in the 24th paragraph.
