Father and son honoured with Cork Person of the Month award

THE joint June Cork persons of the month are a father and son who are being honoured for their achievements in sports and media.

Established in 1993, the Cork Person of the Month awards celebrate the people of the city and county and the contributions they make to public life.

This month, the scheme recognises Cork hurling hero Justin McCarthy Sr and his son, RTÉ broadcaster Justin McCarthy Jr, in honour of their contributions to sports and media.

Justin Sr, from Rochestown, had a playing career that spanned almost 30 years, including a 10-year stint with the Cork senior hurling team.

A cerebral, versatile, and stylish midfielder, Justin McCarthy Sr got his first taste of competitive hurling with Capuchin College in Rochestown, where he took part at under-14, under-15, and under-16 levels.

At the age of 17, he lined out for Rochestown’s junior hurling side, earning one appearance with Carrigdhoun divisional side and scoring two points.

After one year with Rochestown, McCarthy transferred to Passage in 1964, spending 20 years with the club, in two stints, from 1964-1980 and 1987-1991.

After his first spell with Passage, he also spent a season as a player-manager for Shamrocks, leading them to a South East Junior Hurling Championship medal in 1981.

His inter-county career was stellar, and rising through the minor, under-21, and intermediate ranks, he made his senior hurling debut for Cork against Galway in the 1964 Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

Over a 10-year period at the senior grade at inter-county level, he won one All-Ireland Senior Hurling title and three Munster Senior Hurling Championships.

In 1966, he won a Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship, a Munster Senior Hurling Championship, an All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship, and an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, becoming the then-youngest winner of the Hurler of the Year award.

Following his playing career, he held a variety of coaching and managerial posts across the country, and he coached Cork across two periods, from 1975-1976 and 1984-1985, where he won three Munster Championships, in 1974, 1985, and 1986, and an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 1984.

His son, Justin McCarthy, is a broadcaster and journalist, and is best known for presenting ThisWeek on RTÉ Radio One, Ireland’s longest-running radio news programme. He is an alumnus of both St Peter’s Community School in Passage West and University College Cork, and he cut his teeth in local radio, working as a journalist with 96 FM and Red FM. He holds five PPI and IMRO radio awards for news reporting and broadcasting.

Manus O’Callaghan, organiser of the Cork Person of the Month awards, described the McCarthys as one of Cork’s most famed families.

“It is my hope that this Cork Persons of the Month Award goes some small way towards showing the city’s and county’s thanks for the immense service they provide to sporting and civic life,” Manus O’Callaghan said.

The names of Justin McCarthy Sr and Jr will now go forward, alongside the other monthly winners, for possible selection as Cork Persons of the Year at the annual Gala Awards Lunch, which will be held in January 2025.