MOTHER knows best.
Making the short journey to St Mary’s Park, fresh off the plane from the only life he knew way out on America’s west coast, Conor McCarthy wasn’t so sure.
Swapping the sun soaked suburbs of San Francisco for the small town surrounds of his new home in Scotstown would be a culture shock for any eight-year-old still trying to make sense of the world.
Pitch him up at the local football ground and throw him an O’Neills size five for the first time, and suddenly it’s time to sink or swim: “As soon as we came here my mother drove me to my first training session - I didn’t really know anyone at that stage,” recalls McCarthy.
“She just told me to hop out of the car and go on about my business. They used to stand around in a circle and get me to talk; they loved getting me to do the American accent when I came over. That was my party piece. Ever since then, since that first training session, I’ve just fallen in love with the game.”
Thrown in at the deep end, a flurry of feet kicking hard beneath the calm surface, Conor McCarthy would eventually find a way to navigate the choppy waters. Before long, he would master them completely.
Facing adversity and overcoming obstacles is nothing new, but his next challenge could be the most difficult one yet – nailing down a starting spot in Malachy O’Rourke’s starting 15 and helping Monaghan bounce back from a 2016 best consigned to the darkest recesses of the memory bank.
A star performer throughout his short career, whether with St Macartan’s College, the county’s minor or U21 teams or a Scotstown outfit enjoying a golden period in the club’s history, McCarthy has made fleeting – yet eye-catching – appearances under O’Rourke.
And there is a strong feeling within the Farney county that they have something really special on their hands: “He’s probably one of the most naturally gifted footballers I’ve ever come across,” said Kieran Hughes, a club and county colleague who coached the young McCarthy at underage level.
“It was obvious even then that if he wanted to play Gaelic football, he was going to make it to the top, no problem. He’s a streetwise cub but he’s well-educated too. I just love going to watch him play.”
Across the Cavan border, not a traditional source of goodwill towards their neighbours to the north, new Breffni boss Mattie McGleenan is equally effusive in his praise of his former Scotstown charge.
“Conor was in the Monaghan minors when myself and Colin McAree were in charge. It was plain to see at that point that he was something exceptional,” he said.
“He’s a Jamie Clarke type of player – he can make something happen out of nothing. If you think a situation’s lost or dead, Conor McCarthy can turn that completely around.”
When the conversation turns to McGleenan drafting McCarthy into the An Bhoth seniors during his time in charge of the Monaghan champions, a swift end is brought to that particular line of enquiry.
“He brought himself in - at no point can I claim anything about Conor McCarthy. He was a huge part of Scotstown’s success... he’s a dangerous, dangerous threat and any time Conor McCarthy is on a football field, he is seriously worth a watching.”
The last time an emerging Monaghan forward was spoken of in such glowing terms, Conor McManus stepped out from Tommy Freeman’s shadow to become the county’s main scoring threat and, in time, one of the most complete forwards operating in Ireland today.
McCarthy has a long road to travel before he can be mentioned in the same breath as the Clontibret hotshot but, as ever, it is a challenge he will warmly embrace.
“I don’t really take that on board,” he says.
“I’m just there to try and help the squad and if I can do that, happy days. I don’t really feel that pressure myself, I just take it in my stride.”
In McManus, he would struggle to find a more impressive role model to follow: “He’s not the worst now,” laughs the 21-year-old, who is in the middle of a four-year science degree at UCD.
“Conor’s a shining example of where hard work and dedication can get you. He’s developed into one of the best forwards in the country and that’s not just by chance.
“Whatever little things I can take off him, I do. He’s a lovely fella to even go up and chat to, he’ll give you advice, he’s the best of fellas. He does everything to help Monaghan and that’s the bottom line and hopefully now the rest of us forwards can step up and give him a helping hand.”
Therein lies the challenge facing Malachy O’Rourke – unearthing other forwards who possess enough of a whiff of danger to help unlock opposition defences.
All manner of personnel changes, positional swaps and formation tinkering have been tried in an attempt to take some of the huge scoring burden off McManus’s shoulders.
Surrendering their Ulster title and suffering a shock defeat to lowly Longford in the Qualifiers last summer suggested the search for a solution had been unsuccessful.
McCarthy caught the eye against Longford and expects to be given more opportunity to express himself during Monaghan’s Division One campaign, which opens this weekend away to All-Ireland finalists Mayo.
“I’ve been training well and I am confident in my own ability. The manager makes the decisions with regards the team and panel, but in the year coming I will be looking to nail down a starting position.”
McCarthy has undertaken an intense conditioning programme in order to get up to the level required after finding himself “way off the mark” at senior inter-county level.
“Obviously the strength and conditioning and all the athletic work is a massive part of the game and rightly so, even though it kills me to say it,” he continued.
“Underage and stuff, I never followed anything religiously, I thought it was a waste of time to be in the gym to be honest. I thought my talent and my footballing brain would get me through most things, and I kind of got away with it at underage up to the U21s.
“But when I started coming up against inter-county players, training with the senior team, I just found myself way off the mark in terms of my conditioning. It’s something I’m still working on, I’m not fully tuned yet, but hopefully I can get there this year.”
A return trip to San Fran last summer ended on a sour note, a lateral ligament tear and a fractured knee all he had to show for a month spent kicking ball back ‘home’.
Kieran Hughes had never seen his club-mate stuck before, but McCarthy found rehab frustrating. Now out the other end – “the knee’s rock solid thankfully” - he has turned that particular nightmare into a positive.
“I’ve been constantly playing now for four or five years with different teams, schools, colleges, club, I haven’t really had a chance to take a serious break from the game,” said McCarthy.
“With no football there for three or four months, it really showed me how much passion I have for the game.”
Running back to his mum’s car after that first training session, the party piece transatlantic twang in full flow as he chattered all the way home, a love of the game had been born – a love the Farney faithful hope can take him all the way to the top.
Thirteen years on, it turns out mother did know best after all.
VERDICT
MANAGER Malachy O’Rourke had some serious thinking to do after watching his team bow out of the Championship to Longford last summer.
Some speculated that, after leading the Farneymen to two Ulster titles in three years, O’Rourke may have taken them as far as he could. But the former Fermanagh boss is back and, if the Dr McKenna Cup is anything to go by, determined to breathe new life into a panel with miles on the clock.
He has already lost one experienced starter for the majority of the league after Dessie Mone suffered a broken wrist during Monaghan’s McKenna Cup defeat to Derry.
Plenty of youth has been introduced, several from the county’s provincial title-winning U21 class of 2016, in a bid to re-energise a team who looked flat at times last year.
The Farney county just managed to avoid relegation to Division Two when, after starting well with wins over Roscommon and Down and a battling defeat to the Dubs in Croke Park, they went into free-fall.
Further losses to Mayo, Cork and Kerry left them fighting for survival on the last day, Colin Walshe’s last-gasp point enough to edge past Donegal and stay up on points difference.
It could be just as difficult this year, with away trips to Mayo this Sunday, Kerry, Tyrone and Donegal. They certainly won’t want to leave it to the final day again as that’s when the Dubs are scheduled to roll into Clones. And of course, the big question remains: where will the scores come from if Conor McManus isn’t getting them?
O’Rourke has tried out a few different attacking options during the McKenna Cup, with Thomas Kerr, Michael Bannigan, David McAllister and Conor McCarthy all capable of putting the ball over the bar, but they remain untested at the top level.
They will have to learn fast if Monaghan are to avoid another rollercoaster ride in Division One.
ONES TO WATCH
STALWARTS Paul Finlay and Dick Clerkin may have left the inter-county stage in recent months, but there is no shortage of talent coming through the Monaghan ranks.
Scotstown’s tricky forward Conor McCarthy is perhaps the pick of the emerging bunch and, after playing for UCD during the O’Byrne Cup, came off the bench at half-time to score 1-1 in Monaghan’s defeat to Derry.
McCarthy is one of many who played a major part in Monaghan’s Ulster U21 success last year, with the stylish James Mealiff also catching the eye during that run.
The Clones half-forward was drafted into Malachy O’Rourke’s senior panel for the Championship last summer and is clearly in the manager’s thoughts after starting the McKenna Cup wins over Fermanagh and Antrim.
Livewire forwards Barry McGinn and David McAllister, full-back Mikey Murnaghan, Aaron Lynch, Stephen Finnegan, Stephen McCabe, Niall Kearns and goalkeeper Conor Forde all boost O’Rourke’s options.
Last year’s minor captain Micheal Bannigan did well against Fermanagh, scoring 0-3, and Thomas Kerr has another chance to nail down a starting spot and realise his undoubted potential.
O’Rourke will hope his panel is boosted further by the return of the injury-hit Jack McCarron in the coming months.
