‘I always looked at the Antrim teams and hurling in the north as very special’

A FORMER Waterford manager, who has also coached his native Munster county, among others, coming north to work with the Antrim hurlers – not Davy Fitzgerald but Justin McCarthy.

The Cork man coached the Saffrons to All-Ireland intermediate glory before the feisty Fitzgerald was even born, and his legacy literally lives on in the northern county.

Attending the Antrim senior hurling final a couple of years ago, McCarthy had a heart-warming experience: “I was up in Corrigan that day with my good friend Dick McKeague, and this young lad came along and said, ‘You’re Justin McCarthy, aren’t you?’ ‘That’s right,’ I replied.

“He said: “You stayed with my parents back in the 1970s. I wasn’t born then, but I’m called after you, my name is Justin McCormack.”

His father was Eddie, a teacher at the then-St MacNissi’s, Garron Tower, with whom McCarthy resided at Glenbush, near Loughgiel, after a short stint lodging with Frank Smyth on Belfast’s Glen Road.

Smyth and Neilly Patterson, the father of future Antrim goalkeeper Niall, were the duo who persuaded McCarthy to assist the Saffrons in 1970, at a time when he was unable to play for Cork due to a badly broken leg sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Only 25 at the time, that launched a coaching and managerial career which is still ongoing, with the minors at his club Passage West and with a local school team.

Of course, he has taken the latter in sight of a trophy, as he reveals: “I’m doing some underage coaching with the club and I’ve a schools team in the final of the schools’ competition, so I’m looking forward to that next month.

“It’s St Peter’s Community School, Passage West. We’ve got to the final next month. I go coaching the [club] minor team every Saturday morning for about an hour-and-a-half. I keep my hand in.”

Indeed, his enthusiasm is that of a man half his age – which is how he feels, he says with a laugh: “I’ll be 80 in June – in my head I’m 40.”

Having had connections with Antrim for more than half-a-century, his affection for the county remains strong:

“I’ve great memories of it; it was a great time of my life from the point of view of going up north. I always looked at the Antrim teams and hurling in the north as very special. When I was asked to go, I felt there was a calling there to help them out.

“I met so many friends down through the years, like Frank Smyth, who was one of the men came down to meet me and Neilly Patterson, they came down to Dublin and brought me up and I stayed with Frank on the Glen Road for a few days.”

It wasn’t just the Antrim team he helped out, of course. McCormack made sure McCarthy tutored the hurlers of Loughgiel, and he also guided Dunloy at times.

He also returned to the Antrim set-up in 2015, for a spell alongside PJ O’Mullan jnr during the 2016 season, and keeps his eyes on how the Saffrons are faring to this day:

“I’m always looking at the Antrim results and how things are going. I’ve a great grá for the county. I’m big into country and western music and most nights I play The Green Glens of Antrim.

“I love the countryside and the people, and Belfast is a lovely city too. Even though we’re a long way apart, we’re very close in other ways.”

A

lthough he was joint-coach alongside Fr Michael O’Brien when Cork won the GAA centenary season All-Ireland in 1984, arguably McCarthy’s greatest managerial achievements were with Waterford.

In his first season in charge of the Déise, 2002, he led them to their first Munster SHC triumph for 39 years, defeating Tipperary in a thriller after first knocking out his native Cork.

After losing the 2003 Munster decider to the Rebels, the counties met again in the following year’s provincial final, with Waterford edging to victory in a stone cold classic.

He also led them to National Hurling League success in 2007 – again the first since 1963 – and added another Munster title, but never managed to reach an All-Ireland final.

Current Antrim boss Davy Fitzgerald achieved that in 2008, having taken over when McCarthy was ousted by player power after defeat in the Munster first round, although Kilkenny absolutely destroyed them in that decider.

Speed of play is the most important factor in hurling, insists McCarthy: “The biggest thing I see overall, if you look at the two teams practising in a pitch in Antrim, or down in Cork or Tipperary or wherever, the biggest thing that people are maybe not picking up on is that one team can train faster, they can make less mistakes on the ball.

“They’re more confident, their quickness of thought and movement, their hand speed and their awareness of what’s happening around them. They can do things that bit faster.

“Then that gives them confidence to go out and express themselves and do it without fear because it does come down to confidence and belief and not being afraid to make a mistake. That all stems from very good practical sessions at a quick pace with quick thinking.

“I often make the analogy, it’s like driving, say above in Ballymena; and then you go to Belfast and say, ‘Belfast is fairly busy. Oh my God, you need eyes in the back of your head.’ Then go to Paris or go to New York, you’d say ‘I couldn’t drive there because things are happening so fast’. But, of course you can acclimatise, so to speak, and get used to it and then you can do it.

“It’s a matter of getting that movement, practise, and having the confidence then to carry it out. Coaches are doing all sorts of things here and there, but it’s about the quickness of their play and the confidence that it gives them on the practice ground: ‘I’ll go out and just do it.’”

Even at high speed, though, McCarthy wants his teams to relax: “I tell the teams I’m involved, the young fellas, ‘Play without fear and play with freedom’. Two things.

“I love to see teams develop, improving and getting more enjoyment. You must get enjoyment. You can’t be too stiff.

“I often say to the lads, ‘You’re not going out to a firing squad. Relax. Go and express yourselves, up your pace, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake’.”