David McCarthy (born 1949) is an Irish former

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er. At club level he played with

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 5,112 at the 2022 census. T ...

and

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and was also a member of the

Cork senior football team The Cork county football team represents Cork in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Cork GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Sen ...

Playing career

McCarthy first played

and

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

at juvenile and underage levels with

and won numerous divisional titles in both codes. As a boarder at the De La Salle College in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, he won several shield competitions, two Abbot Cup titles and lined out in the Corn Uí Mhuirí. McCarthy's studies brought him to

where he won a

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

title in 1973, while he also won a

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

medal with the Combined Universities team the same year. His

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

career with the Clonakilty club spanned over 20 years, during which time he ended up on the losing side in the county finals in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. McCarthy first played for

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

as a member of the minor team and was an unused substitute in the 1967 All-Ireland minor final defeat of

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

. He never played with the under-21 team but earned selection on the junior team that won the Munster JFC title in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

. McCarthy's performances in this grade resulted in an immediate call-up to the senior team and he was at left wing-forward when Cork beat

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

in the 1973 All-Ireland final. He also won consecutive Munster SFC titles, four consecutive Railway Cup medals with

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and was included on the

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

team in 1976. A car accident in 1979 brought McCarthy's inter-county career to an end.

Personal life

McCarthy's uncle, Humphrey O'Neill, was part of the Cork team that won the 1945 All-Ireland SFC. He qualified with a degree in

agricultural science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professio ...

and worked as a secondary school teacher in Clonakilty Community College while also running the family newsagent.

Honours

;University College Dublin *

: 1973 ;Clonakilty *

West Cork Junior A Hurling Championship The Carbery Junior A Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the RCM Tarmacadam Carbery Junior A Hurling Championship) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Carbery GAA, West Cork Board of the Gaelic Athletic Ass ...

: 1976, 1977, 1983 ;Cork *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Associatio ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Munster Junior Football Championship The Munster Junior Football Championship is a gaelic football tournament between the six counties of Munster GAA, Munster: Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Waterford. It is the third-tier county teams playing off in a single-elimination ...

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

Munster Minor Football Championship The Munster Minor Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Munster in Ireland. It is ...

;Combined Universities *

: 1973 ;Munster *

: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Dave 1949 births Living people UCD Gaelic footballers Clonakilty Gaelic footballers Clonakilty hurlers Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Gaelic football goalkeepers People educated at De La Salle College Waterford 20th-century Irish sportsmen