Culmination of years of planning leads to a dream weekend for young Kildare footballer

To say it was a whirlwind weekend for Cathal McCarthy doesn't really do it justice. It was a weekend when a lifetime of plans came together in an unforgettable 24 hour period for the 18-year-old.

First up on Friday, like thousands of others around Ireland, his focus was on his Leaving Cert results.

When the opportunity came to join Hull City last January he could have went to England at that stage but he was insistent that he wanted to stay at home and complete school in Naas CBS, while staying on loan with his club UCD.

That decision was fully justified when he logged on on Friday morning to find out that his results were much better than he had anticipated.

“I was absolutely delighted, and very pleasantly surprised. I got 542 points, if I had got anything near 500 I would have thrilled so to get that exceeded all my expectations,” said the modest youngster from Caragh, who said that even with an exciting football career ahead that his Leaving Cert results were very important to him.

“Obviously football is great and everybody wants to be a footballer but education is big for me, and my parents as well. I had been in school for five and a half years at stage so I said, 'Look, it’s a few months so I’d love to just finish it out'. 

"Hull were great to be fair, they understood and said no problem at all. I could have come over and done stuff online but maybe the results would have been different. I’m happy with the way that it worked out in the end."

After playing underage football with Newbridge Town, Klub Kildare and UCD, he moved to Hull in the summer but wasn't expecting to be in the reckoning for a first team place so soon. Sickness in the Hull squad opened a door for him and he began to get an idea that he could be involved in Saturday's game late in the week. Incredibly, it was confirmed to him that he would be making his Championship debut for Hull City against Blackburn Rovers at the MKM Stadium just half an hour after receiving his results.

“I played on Tuesday with the under 21s so I didn’t training with the first team that day and then we had a day off on the Wednesday. On Thursday, I began to get an idea, we were going through shape and stuff like that, and then on Friday I got told.

“Friday was the most eventful day. I was in the changing rooms with the lads in the morning opening up the results online with them and then about half an hour later I was told that I was starting so I was high on emotions for an hour or so,” said McCarthy.

The weekend couldn’t get have been planned any better. His mother, Olivia, and father, Gearoid, were over on account of the Leaving Cert results, and they were joined by his aunt who travelled up from London, and they were able to be there when McCarthy stepped out in the Championship for the first time.

“They said they’d book this weekend over because of my results, that was the main thing, my mam, was just dying to get over and see my results. It was just literally perfect the way it worked out. When they were booking I told them that I might not even be on the bench and make the squad but they just wanted to come over and see the game anyway. To end up playing was just perfect and it was nice that the parents got to see it,” said McCarthy.

Back home his girlfriend Sophie, sister of Naas and Kildare forward Darragh Kirwan, was following the game while working on the turnstiles in Cedral St Conleths Park for that afternoon’s Championship games. Sophie’s father Cormac is well known also in Kildare GAA circles after his time as Operations Manager but McCarthy said he finding a new love for soccer.

“Sophie does be texting me a lot and keeping me up with things and then her dad Cormac and her grandad are following it as well. It’s nice to know that they are tuning in and showing their support. Cormac is obviously a big GAA man but he shows a bit of love for the soccer now and again as well,” laughed McCarthy.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have the perfect fairytale ending as Hull were beaten 3-0 but having got a taste for the action, McCarthy is hungry for more, although he is realistic and knows he may have to be patient.

“It was shame about the result but that’s football, not everything can go your way all the time. It was just some feeling to be out there even though we didn’t get the result. I was just over the moon to be out there and playing 90 minutes because that’s what I’ve always dreamed about, to be a professional footballer. It was just a great feeling, and then to see my parents in the stand made it even better,” he said.

The promotion to competitive first team football so soon in his career was not something that was on McCarthy’s radar when he moved over to England but part of being a professional footballer is being to take whatever opportunity comes your way and he clearly earned the trust of the Club’s Head Coach Sergej Jakirović during a pre-season in Turkey.

“Coming over, the last thing I was expecting was to be starting a Championship game I’d say even in my first year. I didn’t expect it all, it’s all happened very quickly. I suppose that’s just the way football works. Sometimes there’s an injury, or we had a little bit of sickness in the group this week. When the chance is there you just have to do your best and try to take it, it’s funny the way it works out sometimes.

“I was lucky to be enough to be brought over to Turkey for the pre-season training camp and I think that’s where I put myself out there. It wasn’t a competitive debut but we had two games over there and that was my first chance with the first team and I was just trying to put myself in the mind of the coaches and the manager and show that I can play. Thankfully, that worked and it just kept going like that in pre-season. I just tried to do my best, whether I was on for 15 minutes, half an hour, 45 minutes, just to try show them what I could do. They’ve been good to me as well and they threw me on in pretty much every game during so at least I got a chance to show what I could do.” 

Those performances earned McCarthy a place in the matchday squad for the opening game of the season against Coventry but after spending 90 minutes on the bench, and then for the two games following on from that against Wrexham in the Carabao Cup and the league game against Oxford, he was itching to get his chance on the pitch.

“I didn’t expect to be anywhere near it but then when you are on the bench you are just dying to get on the pitch, dying and dying and dying even though just two months ago it would have been the last thing you’d have expected but obviously everybody just wants to make their debut. I still didn’t expect to come this early, after just three games so it was just a great feeling,” he said.

The MKM Stadium holds a capacity of just 25,000 and it wasn’t far off full with over 20,000 there to see the game against Blackburn. McCarthy admitted that it was unlike any match he has played in so far.

“It was definitely a bit different to the UCD Bowl! I was very nervous at the start game. I think in Dundalk in front of maybe 1 or 2,000 people was the biggest crowd I had played in front of so to play in front of over 20,000 in the MKM was completely different. But I have a taste for it now and if I ever get on again whether this season or next then I know that’s what it will be like playing,” he said.

Helping to settle his nerves was his centre half partner, John Egan. The 32-year-old Kerryman has amassed almost 400 appearances in his career, plus 36 international caps, and has played a major part in helping McCarthy settle into life in England, and he was there beside him for his debut.

“Since the day I stepped in the door he’s been unbelievable to me, just so, so good to me just in helping me settle in and introducing me to the lads. To be put beside me for my first game was just perfect. The Irish connection is there and he’s been good to me, and even during the game when things were tough, when we were under pressure in the first few minute, he was there talking me through it. He just helped settle my nerves and made it easier for me because I know having John Egan next to me is going to help me, he's going to cover me and help me through the game. I couldn’t have asked for much better,” he said.

McCarthy realistic and know that the return of senior players could very well see him out of the team for this weekend's visit to Bristol City but he is happy to bide his time and wait for his next opportunity, whenever that might me.

"I’m not going to get ahead of myself and I know there’s a chance that I might not start again anytime soon but if the chance arises I’ll be absolutely ready to go. But if I have to be patient for a few weeks, a few months then so be it," he said.