In conversation with...Cathal McCarron
Cathal McCarron celebrates last year's County Final win for Athy over Naas with his children, Harry and Lily
He grew up playing football in Dromore, won county championships with them, won an All-Ireland with Tyrone, won a Dermot Bourke Cup with Athy. He has had his challenges in life but he is happy in his new home in Athy and this week Cathal McCarron sat down with The Kildare Nationalist to talk life, football and Championship 2026.
So, Cathal, what was it like growing up in Dromore?
I suppose, Pat, there was nothing to do other than play football and that was really it. There was soccer club as well but probably Gaelic football was probably the most profound, it was just driven in the club. We won three championships in six years and we won six or seven Leagues so I suppose we kind of obsessed with football in Dromore for a long, long time and I spent most of my life just playing it.
Who is in the family?
I have a brother, Barry and a sister, Emer. I was the middle child. My Mam and Dad, Seamus and Margaret are alive and well, Thank God.
You won three championships but didn’t advance in Ulster.
A bit like Mayo a few weeks ago. There was apparently a curse in our club by a Parish Priest. I think was 80 years or something we had never won a senior championship until 2007. That's when a group of seven or eight of us minors came through and drove the thing on a wee bit. We finally got over the line in '07. In Ulster we played Crossmaglen in the semi-final up in Clones. We won our first championship so this was a bonus territory but we took them to the wire. I think we were six down at half time and we drew level within the last minute and one of our players blocked a ball for a ’45. I think it was Tony Kiernan who stepped up and took the ‘45 and they won the game.
It showed the level we were playing at, I suppose, at that time but we found it very hard to win a back-to-back Championship. In Tyrone it’s straight knockout; you don't have group games or the luxury to lose a game so if you're not on the ball every day you go out.
All of that led you into the senior county setup around 2008 and an All-Ireland medal.
I was 18, turning 19 that year. We were beaten in the first round in Ulster and went on to win the All-Ireland, a fairytale run. We had to wait another ten years before we got back to the Final in 2018. Between 2008 and 2018 we were always in quarter finals and semi-finals and the odd final so we were always at the business end of the year, even in the barren year you were still competing at the top which was good.
Back when I was playing in 2013, 14, 15, 16 we were probably missing one or two killer forwards to win an All-Ireland, they have them now, which is unfortunate for me. The future looks good for Tyrone, especially with the U20s after winning a couple of All Irelands. It’s about bringing the young lads through. Kildare know all about the underage system, they have a good underage system there and are doing well but they just don't seem to be bringing it through to senior level.
Around 2012, 13,14 14 you spent some time in London. Did that hinder your progress with the county team?
I was in London and it’s well documented, I was going through all sorts of troubles myself at that stage. I played for London for a short stint but I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind to be to be playing. I was going through a motion. Then I came home and I got back into the county setup in 2015. I got my life together and a clear head and I was probably playing the best football of my career then, Pat.
You got a knee injury around that time?
I actually got a knee injury the first year I signed for Athy in 2018. I done the cruciate against Roscommon in the first game of the Super Eights in Croke Park.
As you said you had your life challenges around that time including a gambling addiction. Was the writing your book, Out of Control, a difficult thing or was it a release for you?
Do you know what, Pat, it was actually a bit of a therapeutic process. I was meeting up with a friend of mine every week in Newbridge in Judge Roy Beans, Christy O’Connor, to do that book over a good period of months. It was almost like going to another meeting and bringing up the past and going through things. It was very therapeutic at the time and it did me no harm.
When you look at back at that time now, do you have advice for people who might find themselves in similar situations?
Talk to people, don't bury your head in the sand thinking I’ll be all right or I'm not too bad. That's the tendency of people that that gamble or drink or drugs. They tell themselves I'm not like him or I'm not too bad. Then a year later they're coming to you or they're talking to someone and they’ve gotten worse. If you look inside your soul or look inside yourself you know this is a problem. When gambling for me became me chasing money to win money to actually make money instead of doing it for fun, then that's when you knew it was a serious problem.
You bring yourself to the lowest of depths to get that money, don't you?
You do. I would have done a lot of work with people when I came out of Cuan Mhuire when I did my own program. I've met wonderful people that were addicts and now have turned their life around. The goodness in 95% of them, when they're not in their addiction, they're wonderful people. Unfortunately, that's what it does, it brings you to places where you'd never think you would go.
How did Cuan Mhuire in Athy come about?
I actually did my program in Cuan Mhuire up in Newry and I met with a good fella called Liam McLaughlin who was up visiting at the time and was looking after Cuan Mhuire in Athy. He had a good chat with me and asked how I was and was I ready to leave. I says, "You know, I'm actually in a much better place than I was”. I felt that I still had a lot of work to do so he recommended coming down to Athy to
work in the drug unit. I said, "Why not”. That’s where I went and I haven’t left!
What attracted you to stay in Athy then?
You know what, Pat, it was probably almost like a new start for me. Leaving the past behind, a new start in life and a second chance in life. I met great people down here, very supportive people who just had a real warmth towards them. Obviously, I met Niamh, my wife now, and we've two wonderful kids. It just snowballed from meeting on a night out to buying a house, having children and getting married. That's where we're at now.
Was it easy to leave the other life behind and start anew again?
I actually transferred back to Dromore during COVID, the year that Athy won the Championship! Everyone was off work. A few of my friends were just chatting back home. I always said I wanted to give Dromore one more year when I wasn’t playing county football. It was an itch that I wanted to scratch. And I said, you know what, this could be the year to do it, just the way things were. I told the club here in Athy that’s what I wanted to do and they respected it. I said it’s a one-year deal; I'm coming back next year and Athy won the championship down here and we were beat up home. When I came back the following year, we were beat here in the championship and Dromore won the championship at home. So, I lost two championships!
I came home and the funny thing about it was I was only gone a couple of years from Dromore and I remember running out one night to training and it was just a whole bunch of new lads. Obviously, there was a group of lads that was still there that I would have played with but it almost didn't feel like home, which is strange. I knew Athy was home and Dromore wasn’t and I was only gone a couple of years.
So Athy made you very welcome?
Oh yeah and I have great friends down here, young and old, all sorts of people. There are great people about Athy and it's a great wee town and a great wee community that would be very backing of each other. You've seen that in the GoFundMe last year with us getting to the Leinster Final. People row in behind us now and support us a lot and not even football, businesses and different things. It's a great wee spot I have to say, very supportive.
Did you ever consider throwing your lot in with Kildare as a county player?
Do you know what, Pat, no, I didn't. When I retired from Tyrone, I probably could have played on for another couple of years, being honest. The reason I gave it up was I was fed up doing this training every night and running here, running there. I had a young family at the time as well, which was a big part of it. I remember being younger, thinking to myself, imagine not being able to train every day and not having that mindset that you didn't want to train every day. Then almost to think, Jesus, I have to train today. I suppose that's just an age thing. but no, I didn't. I said if I was ever going to leave Tyrone, I was never going to play with anything else.
So, you moved into an Athy team that were always up there, always a top four team but it was always a challenge to win something. Is it changing now? Maybe last year was a catalyst for that? You had your established players like the Kellys and Kevin Feeley, the Hylands and yourself. There are new players coming in now who have had success at underage levels, the Spillanes, Colm Moran, Ronan Kelly. Is there a different dynamic now?
Oh, there is. You can go back three or four years ago where we were getting beat in semi-finals and we were probably missing them lads, that wee bit of quality that wasn't coming through. Then we got a flood of them in one go. I suppose the club is in a really good place at the minute, just with the players and even down the line, future players coming up. It takes a mixture of older players and younger players together. You couldn't just throw in a crowd of young fellas all in one. I remember Mickey Harte saying that too. Even in McKenna Cup games he'd always throw a few older boys in with the younger guys just to get them through the games.
They're in rude health, Athy and the future looks good. There's a couple of us coming to the end of our careers but there's plenty of good guys coming behind there to grab the jersey so it should be in a good place for years to come.
Did you think at the start of the championship of ‘25 that you’d be celebrating a Dermot Bourke Cup win? You had a new Management Team with Ross and Conor. What was the mood?
I’ll not lie to you and it will be the exact same, I'd say, if you go to Naas, Sarsfields, Celbridge etc. Every year you set out to win a championship and would have realistic ambitions of winning the championship. That would be no different with them. Even though we won it last year, they'll be going for it this year. Every year we set out to win a championship, it’s just so difficult. They’re just so hard to win because on the day there’s very little between the top four or five teams in Kildare in a final or semi-final. You’ve got to grasp of opportunity when it comes and thankfully, we done that last year.
You have a new manager again this year. I'd say there was disappointment, but understanding, when Ross and Conor couldn't continue, everybody understood the reasons why. Now Seán Gannon has taken over as Manager.
With the year we had, when we got the news, I suppose we had an idea why they were stepping down. Jesus you could have no complaints. Family, at the end of the day, comes first; it's more important than anything. Obviously, you're disappointed that they left because there was such a vibe and an upbeat atmosphere. The work they done last year was savage; they brought a whole new dynamic to the whole thing. To lose them and then to have another man come in you can look at it maybe it may freshen up the thing again. Time will tell but so far so good. We had a very funny League but if you look at most of the Team Sheets you’ll see there probably wasn’t more than four or five players who started the championship or Leinster games at any one time in ’25.
When the chips were down you managed to survive. That last League game was nearly like a like County Final?
It was a funny game as well because we were winning comfortably one stage. Then we gave away a bad kick out and they got a goal and had a bit of momentum then. We had to turn that momentum. We made life hard for ourselves but I suppose it's all about two weeks and gearing ourselves up for the championship. We lost Colm Moran, which is a big blow, but then again, we’ve young lads that have come in. there. Callum Keaveny is a young lad that has come through. Colm’s potential and the year he had last year will be a big miss.
You're in Group C along with Sallins, Raheens and Kilcock, who you have in the opening game. How are you looking at that one because it could be a potential banana skin when people are expecting you to win?
I think every team will be looking at us this year. It will almost be like a championship final for them. It'll be up to us to meet them at that level, at that pace and if we don't and we're not at it that day there's no doubt about it we can get caught. Kilcock will bring plenty to the game, I'd imagine. I've played in championship-winning teams and went out the following year to defend it and sometimes you might need a wee scare or two or you might need a kick up the ass to get you going but hopefully we won't need that. Kilcock, Sallins, Raheens, they're all formidable opponents. We respect every one of them and give them the respect they deserve. Hopefully, we can match what they bring on the day, and that'll be good enough.
There's no Preliminary Round this year so it's nearly jeopardy from day one. Winning the first game, they all say, is the most important thing?
I found that funny in the last couple of years, that Preliminary Round game, because you were winning a game that obviously meant you should have an advantage. A couple of years we were in a group with Naas, Sarsfields and stuff so you wondered where the advantage was from winning that game. It didn't really make sense. It can work for you or can work against you, I suppose. You’ll get your fill of it no matter who you're playing in all these championship games. From League to Championship, it always is a bigger intensity and a bigger pace. We'll have to meet them head on and see what we have in the tank. Hopefully we'll have that hunger that drove us over the line last year. It would be great to get back to do two in a row.
What motivates Cathal McCarron to keep going at this level, the highest level of senior football in Kildare?
Jesus, that's a good question, Pat. I'll be 39 now in November and I'll be 40 next November. I always said what would you be doing if you weren't playing football. I've seen boys, young lads retired at 30/31/32 and them up in the stands for four or five years and talking to you in the pub saying, Oh Jeez I miss that. They've gone too long and they can't come back then. If you're good enough and offering something to the team my motto would be you should play as long as you can. When the day comes that you're not and you find that you're just not up at the pace then that's probably the time to throw the towel in.
Obviously the family are still supporting you in playing on?
Ah yes. The buzz last year we had in this house going from the semi-final of the championship, final of the championship, winning it and then the whole run in Leinster. My two kids, Harry and Lily, they haven't had ball out of their hands since. They're at great ages now. Harry is six and Lily's nine. They’re not wee babies anymore. They're coming and watching the whole games and it's great for me because I’d have loved them to watch me playing county football but they were too young. Lily was only was very, very young and Harry wasn't even born, so yeah, it's great that they can actually see me playing football now and they’ll have some memories of me playing when they get a bit older.
As well as being involved in the construction business you started a new Sauna Recovery Business with your team mate Barry Kelly at Athy GFC grounds recently. Who is it aimed at?
It's been good. It's actually starting to get really busy now. It's aimed for everyone. Some people have asked me that. It’s completely open to the public.
Finally, what are you looking forward to for the championship in 2026, Cathal?
From my own point of view, it’s to stay injury free. This year I took a long break, probably similar to last year and then I came back got a good couple of League games under my belt. This year I played one League game and then I came off at half time with a knee tendinitis problem so I suppose I haven't played much football this year which I hope will stand to me and I might be a bit fresher. Just keeping injury free and going on a run and seeing where that takes us. Hopefully, it will be another good year, Pat, with a bit of luck. It'd be absolutely amazing to even think about retaining the championship. Personally, I've never done it in my career, so it would be a challenge and good aim to go for.
Will we see a variation on that dummy solo run we witnessed last year?
Ah you might see something different this year. We’ll have to keep it under the locker!
