'Faz let the families come in': Ireland debut will stay with Paddy McCarthy

Paddy McCarthy came off the bench to play 12 minutes against the All Blacks in his Ireland debut. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell’s Ireland team tried to make their way through the steady Sunday evening foot traffic of Terminal 3 at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport as inconspicuously as possible. It was as challenging a prospect as anything they’d faced the day before as bars and gate areas thronged with green commuters. Some making their way home the long way via London, Toronto, wherever. Many returning to adopted homes across the US.

Paddy McCarthy was among the squad heading towards the K gates to catch the direct red-eye back to Dublin. The prop traversed back across the Atlantic a different man than the one who’d come over the week before. He is now a Test international with a cap in the bag to prove it.

Perhaps he slept easier on board than some other members of the Ireland panel. While McCarthy had only tasted 12 minutes of action, it had been an emotional week in the Windy City. McCarthy had almost the full family on hand for his jersey presentation at the Ireland team hotel Thursday. The only member missing was the one who knew what it felt like — older brother Joe, delayed in transit.

"Faz let the families come in and they stayed in for dinner with me. It was my parents and my brother Andrew. They were so happy for me and I was delighted as well,” said McCarthy.

"They played a video of some of my clips from different games and old memories. It was really nice. My good friend Gus McCarthy from school presented me with the jersey.

"Gus said a few words. It was meant to be with Joe but he couldn't make it. So they put Joe on FaceTime. It was kind of funny. He was in the airport in Chicago, an hour away. It was nice. He got to see the presentation on FaceTime. It was really special.

“They were just delighted for me. I thought I'd get capped sooner and then I had to be patient. Obviously I'm still very young getting capped anyway. I've had to work hard the last couple of years. There's ups and downs, different injuries and things like that.” 

That it was namesake but no relation Gus, a fellow 22-year-old front rower who already has six caps to his name, stepping in perhaps paints that feeling from McCarthy that this was one he may have had sooner. He’d travelled on the two-Test summer tour under interim coach Paul O’Connell but didn’t see action against Georgia or Portugal.

"I wasn't [annoyed] because it's quite common,” insisted McCarthy, who switched from tighthead to loosehead as an U20. "Paul said it to me that Garry [Ringrose] didn't get capped in his fourth camp. Jamie Osborne was similar enough. Different guys who come through. He says normally you get a feeler when you come into camp. You get to know the environment first before you get capped. The guys who did get capped were great players as well. There's good competition. I wasn’t seeing it as being hard done by.” 

When he did get to the team hotel, his older brother did have words of counsel. All three McCarthy boys are water-tight, Andrew on hand to toast every milestone the younger two notch up. As he makes his way back to full fitness, Joe tried to ensure nerves wouldn’t play a factor for little bro.

“He was just like, you'll do great. Sometimes you get little doubts in your head, but he just reassured me and said you'll do great and be yourself,” added McCarthy. “He's hoping to get back as soon as possible. I think he's back running now. He's going well. His rehab is going to plan. He picked up another injury after the Lions. He thought he was going to be back, but then he had another (injury).” 

Is the next goal to share a Test field together?

"I think [National Team Manager] Ger Carmody said we're the eighth set of brothers to get capped for Ireland [in the modern era],” said McCarthy. 

“It was really special in the presentation. I couldn't believe that when I heard it. I think there's 1,300 or 1,700 players got capped for Ireland. It's pretty cool. I'm really proud of that. That's cool."

TV cameras had focused in on McCarthy’s face, all concentration, during the haka. By the time he did come in at Soldier Field, New Zealand were making good on the pre-match rituals and had emphatically tilted the battle their way with Wallace Sititi’s try. McCarthy’s first dozen minutes at the top level were a hell of a welcome.

"I was nervous in patches and then other times I was just excited,” he said. “Faz just said to be myself. It was a pretty simple message – make my tackles, do my bits well around scrum and stuff like that. I tried to deliver on that. Maybe we were unlucky with a few scrum calls or whatever. But no, I was just delighted to make my debut.

"The contacts definitely were bigger. If you went into a breakdown, there's All Black bodies just flying in and into you. Definitely a step up in physicality. You could feel it in the lungs as well.” 

With a shorter turnaround and the desperate need to rebound for Saturday’s early kick-off against Japan in Dublin, McCarthy is eager to start racking up the caps now.

“I'd love to be involved in that,” he said. “That's what we said in the changing room. We've got to not feel sorry for ourselves and just kick on for the next few games.”