The rise and rise of Tipperary's magical Darragh McCarthy

McCarthy has had a dream run of form these past 10 months.

24 May 2024; Darragh McCarthy, left, and Adam Daly of Tipperary celebrate at the final whistle of the oneills.com Munster  U20 Hurling Championship final against Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

This is a corner-forward feature concerning the All-Ireland U20 final. This is not, however, an ode to Adam Screeney. This piece does not concern him.

Screeney’s slight of wrist and nimbleness by foot has rightly seen him become the poster boy of this emerging Offaly crop. He is their magic maker.

The same as the kids make for Clifford in the Kingdom, Faithful followers flock to the diminutive No.15 at full-time, or two minutes before full-time as was the chaotic case in the Leinster final.

It was a Leinster final where, leaving aside his placed-ball duties, he had only six possessions. And yet he still managed to manufacture the outstanding score of either half.

The Leinster semi-final also saw his possession count number six, after frees and 65s were again moved to the side. And still he pulled from his schoolbag a white flag and white flag assist within the space of 30 seconds in the 60th minute that had TG4 commentator Mac Dara Mac Donncha lauding and laughing at his genius.

So, you can see how we could easily pen an ode to Screeney, to go along with all those already in the cement mixer elsewhere this week. Instead, this corner-forward piece will concern itself with Tipperary’s meticulous magic maker.

Adam Screeney of Offaly celebrates after his side's victory in the oneills.com Leinster U20 Hurling Championship semi-final match against Kilkenny at Glenisk O'Connor Park in Tullamore,. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

The Premier played six games on the road to All-Ireland minor glory in 2022. Darragh McCarthy didn’t start a single one. He was a used sub in all six.

In his first U20 campaign the following spring, he was introduced in three of their four Munster outings and played the first 44 minutes of the other.

Nothing jumping off the page there. All very bench impact rather than underage brilliance. And yet by the end of last year, he had gone from U20 backup to becoming a member of Liam Cahill’s senior panel. By the beginning of February, he had almost single-handedly hauled Nenagh CBS to a historic first Harty crown.

His form and development jumped onto the express lane during his first senior campaign with Toomevara last summer. Toome went all the way to the county semi-final, the teenage McCarthy their leading scorer.

For Nenagh CBS, his winter tallies leapt off the scoresheet: 0-7 (0-7 frees), 1-12 (0-8 frees), 0-11 (0-7 frees, 0-1 65), 0-13 (0-9 frees), and 0-7 (0-4 frees).

In their maiden final win over Ardscoil Rís, the Nenagh captain had his first point tagged by the 41st second, assisted for their second, and completed the half by converting two frees, one of which he won himself.

In a conversation with this writer before February’s final, Nenagh manager Donach O'Donnell pointed not to McCarthy’s scoring. He pointed instead to his leadership.

“What he’s been doing is phenomenal. He is a great young fella, a real leader. He sets the tone. He sets the tempo in training all the time,” O’Donnell explained.

“I don't have to turn around to our group and say we need to work harder or we need to do this better, Darragh does it before us.

“He is a very mature young fella. He is doing his Leaving Cert and he is on the Tipperary senior panel, so he has a lot on his plate. But he seems to have taken it all in his stride.

“The players are very willing to listen to Darragh because he is a leader.” 

64 nóim, #CORvTIP@OfficialCorkGAA 0-21@TipperaryGAA 1-19

An scór buacach ó Darragh McCarthy agus is iad Tiobraid Árann seaimpíní na Mumhan 2024! 🥎
Darragh McCarthy with the winning score for Tipperary! 👏

BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV 📺 @MunsterGAA #GAABEO @oneills1918 pic.twitter.com/gUJe4fa67W

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 24, 2024

Brendan Cummins started the spring with a stacked full-forward line. McCarthy, minor final hero Paddy McCormack, and the goal-hungry Senan Butler. Come last Friday’s Munster final, McCormack was injured and Cork weren’t letting Butler out of their sight after he burnt them for a hat-trick three weeks earlier.

That left McCarthy. But he couldn’t manoeuvre himself into the game. His first possession from play didn’t arrive until first-half injury-time when he was fouled for a free that he sent wide.

A quick side note on his free-taking which is both fascinating to observe and at times infuriating for the opposition as the whole process from standing over the sliotar to nodding the head to tossing grass into the wind to striking can take over 20 seconds.

His peripheral first-half status only served to elevate what he did in the second. Between the 36th and 39th minute, he struck a pair from play and then dispossessed Cillian Tobin for Oisin O’Donoghue’s goal.

On four occasions coming down the stretch, Cork came within the minimum without ever securing parity. On three of those four occasions, McCarthy won and converted the free to restore Tipp’s two-point lead.

And then, as a final act, there was his sensational winner from out on the open stand sideline.

“He is just very strong, low built to the ground,” Cummins said of their 0-10 Munster final magic maker. “He has been in with the seniors, so it has helped him the education he has got off Liam.” 

When accepting the Harty Cup last February, McCarthy declared that “dreams do come true”. He’s certainly having a dream run of form these past 10 months. To Saturday, can this corner-forward continue to conjure?