Hunger to play with his friends has kept Billy McCarthy coming back 

When Thurles Sars' unlucky star Billy McCarthy went down, Semple Stadium gasped

BACK IN BUSINESS: Billy McCarthy takes a rasp on the knee from the hurley of Drom & Inch’s Stephen Nolan during the Tipperary SHC quarter-final. Pic: Diarmuid Brennan/Sportsfocus.

As Billy McCarthy absorbed the rasp of a hurley across his strapped right knee and fell on Sunday, there was an audible gasp among the Thurles Sarsfields contingent in FBD Semple Stadium.

This was a scene they had witnessed too many times before. The Mid-Tipperary semi-final against JK Brackens in July 2018 when in scoring a goal a late tackle dislocated his knee and tore both his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. The 2020 county SHC round three game with Moycarkey-Borris when he ruptured the ACL for a third time having also done it during his lengthy recovery in 2019 from the first episode.

On Sunday, McCarthy was thankfully able to dust himself off and continue before manager Pádraic Maher erred on the side of caution and replaced him. A lengthy spell on Mick Clohessy’s physio table afterwards was required but he was happy to report he was fine afterwards.

As a three-time cruciate tear victim, he has Colm O’Neill and Emlyn Mulligan for company. As arduous as the journey was back to the field, he was as determined as they were to play again.

“I was out for three years,” says McCarthy. “I came back last year but I probably wasn’t fully fit. This is the first I’ve been fully fit and I’m enjoying it a lot.

“Once you have the hunger to get back, you stay going. No matter how long the road, you stay plodding away and thank God I’m back now. I’m wearing a brace but I’m back playing.

“The love I have for it is still there. A lot of people said they don’t know how I kept going through three injuries. I know the first one was horrific and then there were complications the second time around and then I did it the third time. I just wanted to play with my friends.” 

McCarthy has spoken before about the toll the first two injuries took on him, not being able to feel his leg for two weeks following the first operation. Studying accountancy in UCC, going from lecture to lecture on crutches was difficult never mind the mental anguish having coming off an impressive debut season with Tipperary in 2018.

“The second time it went you’re wondering. You do have low points mentally but you come back. Deep down, I always know because the love I have for the game I was definitely going to get back, but when you’re in the moment you would have been like, ‘Is it worth it?’ 

“All my mates are there and it’s unreal playing out there with them on the field. Winning with them is very special. Between 2014 and ’17, we won four county titles in a row and you just want to get back to those highs again.” 

The fear of doing further damage to his knee diminishes with each game. “Starting off, you were wary of it but you’re used to it now,” says the 26-year-old, now a senior associate with PwC in Kilkenny. “When you’re in the game, you’re not thinking about it. Thankfully, I haven’t had too many of those feelings this year and touch wood won’t.” 

Any thoughts of wearing the blue and gold once more are parked for now as he looks forward to a county semi-final against Loughmore-Castleiney the weekend after next. “I’ll keep my focus on Thurles Sarsfields. I won’t be thinking too far ahead of that.” 

Having a club manager who was forced to retire from hurling early due to a neck injury last year gives McCarthy plenty of perspective. But then Maher has been an inspiration in so many ways.

“Padraic, he doesn’t rest on his laurels. He went straight back into management when he found out that he had to retire. Playing with him for so many years, you know the dedication and the drive he brings and he’s instilling that in us now as a manager. We want to fight for him. When we go out there, we know how much he gave to Thurles Sarsfields and he loves the club so much.

“My first year with Padraic was 2014 and I would have been watching him when I was a young fella. You’d have had the dream to play with him and I was lucky enough to do that. To see him having to retire and we as the younger lads to bring on Thurles Sarsfields and the onus is on us now and I think we’re doing that so far.

“I can’t emphasise enough the dedication he had. You see from a high-performance perspective what he brought to his hurling and you can learn from that. We’re just trying to replicate that.”