Dublin and Ballymun Kickhams footballer James McCarthy spoke exclusive to Now That’s What I Call Sport this morning.
The defender shared his early influences and how he relishes representing Dublin.
Listen to the interview in full below;
James was not the first McCarthy to run out for Dublin. His dad John won three All Ireland medals between 1974 and 1977. The elder McCarthy has had a big influence on his son going on to become an important player in Dublin’s most dominant stint in GAA ever.
“He’s a big influence on me.”
“I didn’t realise who (how big) he was when I was young.”
“The fact he’s been there and done that, he knows his football. That’s been a great help.”
Growing up in school James was unsurprisingly a very sporty student and tried his hand at a number of things which he feels helped shape him into the player he is today.
“I did everything when I was younger.”
“I did cross country and soccer in school.”
“If there was boxing and rugby I would’ve played them as well.”
Due to Dublin’s massive success since the arrival of Jim Gavin there is always an expectance on them to beat every team they come up against. This creates huge pressure which the Ballymun man says he and his team don’t feel at all.
“I don’t understand this thing about pressure; we never feel pressure playing for Dublin.”
“We love playing for Dublin, we love playing together and love going out representing Dublin.”
“We don’t ever feel it we just really enjoy it and relish playing.”
Also on this morning’s show was Ireland Wheelchair Rugby’s captain Alan Lynch on their upcoming world championships they must fund themselves and how he became paralysed at fourteen years old. We continue our League of Ireland coverage with Bohemians manager Keith Long following their emphatic stoppage time winner over Shamrock Rovers. St.Pats board member Tom O’Mahony spoke on the plans for a new stadium. Leo Cullen also gave his thoughts on his sides’ recent loss to Treviso and their upcoming Champions Cup semi final in two weeks.
Listen to the show in full here:
Now That’s What I Call Sport is live every Sunday morning from 9am.
