JOE McCARTHY IS beginning to notice how life changes when you become a regular in the Ireland team.
This time last year McCarthy has just one Ireland cap to his name, having debuted off the bench in the November 2022 win against the Wallabies. It was supposed to be the start of a big run of months for McCarthy, but injury ruled the lock out of the Six Nations and Leinster’s season run-in.
A year down the line, McCarthy now has both World Cup and Six Nations campaigns under his belt. His performances in France last year were encouraging, and his Six Nations return then represented a significant step up.
The 23-year-old was outstanding in the opening round defeat of France and remained an important part of the title success, starting all five games.
He’s hoping the experience will stand to him across a huge few months with Leinster, which begins with tomorrow’s Champions Cup round of 16 meeting with Leicester Tigers [KO 8pm, RTÉ/TNT Sports] at Aviva Stadium.
“It was unbelievable, because to play in every game is class, it’s exactly what you want,” McCarthy says.
“I’ve had a few campaigns within the Ireland camp and it’s still class, because you get all the coaching. You get all the bits when you’re in the squad, but you don’t get actually to be there on the match days much.
To get backed by the coaches was unbelievable for the five games, it was class. I felt like I got a lot better and probably got a lot more confidence after playing those five games against all the European nations. It was class, I felt good after it.”
Going from promising provincial player to key Ireland international makes day-to-day life feel a little different, with McCarthy’s mullet haircut becoming an increasingly popular choice among young supporters.
“There was a few kids in autograph alley had a mullet [last week]. A few better mullets than my hair anyway. I’m sure they’ve been growing it for a bit longer than mine.
“You definitely notice it. Leinster is big when you’re in it, but the Ireland Six Nations is way bigger. It’s kind of crazy.
You do get noticed a bit more, so it is a bit strange. Even when you’re with your mates and someone asks you for a photo, your mates are like ‘Jesus, look at that, who do you think you are now?!’ It’s all pretty positive, it’s grand.”
The France game was McCarthy’s standout performance in the Six Nations, and while the 6’6” lock had more big moments across the championship he struggling to make as strong an impact as he did in Marseille, partly due to the fact he was more of a marked man.
“Obviously every game is different. Some games fall for you a bit better than other games and some games play a lot differently.
“I was happy with that performance [against France] and I thought I played well the next week [against Italy].
“Obviously we didn’t perform at our best against England. There’s probably some areas you can learn about trying to consistently perform the whole time, which is obviously tough with the competition. You try and put your best foot forward every week and every game falls a bit different. I was happy with how my carrying and things like that went.
“It’s probably nice sometimes when you come in and people [opposition] don’t know you as much. They don’t know what kind of areas you have in your game, so you can probably get away with it a bit more.
“Yeah, you probably do find people doubling up on you or bringing a bit more line speed [when you play more]. Even small things around the lineout they might know, they might block you off. You do notice things like that. Things you do one week… I like the quote: ‘what got you here won’t get you there’. You definitely have to keep evolving your game to stay ahead of the opposition.”
While McCarthy returned to Leinster with a Six Nations medal in his pocket, his appetitive for success hasn’t been sated.
The former Blackrock student is part of the young Leinster group who has yet to lift silverware with the province, who last claimed a trophy in 2021, the season before he made his Leinster bow.
“I suppose everything we talked about when we came back in [from the Six Nations], what do you want to get out of it? You want to win two trophies,” he says.
“There’s a lot of young players in our team that haven’t won any trophies with Leinster, including myself. It’s a big focus, but we know that we just need to worry about performing this weekend. It’s a knockout game.
“I was injured for the whole run to the Champions Cup [last season[, I was only back for the end.
"I couldn’t think of anything better to be doing. The knockout games are so fun and playing with Leinster is class. I’m loving it."
