Larry McCarthy

Larry McCarthy is the current chairman of the New York GAA Board. He was born in Cork in 1954 to a family very involved in the GAA and the interview covers early trips on the train to Croke Park and the Cork Athletic Grounds. The interview discusses his involvement with other sports as a child and his heavier involvement with Gaelic Football once he went to Thomond College to train as a physical education teacher. The interview covers his experiences as secretary of the college GAA club, their involvement in inter-college activity and entry into the Limerick County Championship and eventual winning of the All-Ireland Club Championship in 1977/78. The interview also deals with the social side of college GAA and the style and tactics of Gaelic Football at that time. From college, he moved to Dublin to teach in Malahide and the interview discusses schools GAA and GAA in Dublin in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He began travelling to New York for the summer in the early 1980s before moving there and the interview gives a good insight in the GAA in New York in the 1980s – the dilapidation and crowds of Gaelic Park, the high standard and toughness of the football, the networking and social life and the provision of jobs for players. The interview also deals with the Sligo club in new York which the interviewee was involved in. The interview deals with the system of bringing players over from Ireland and how it has changed from the weekender system of old and the addresses the areas payment and finding of jobs for players. It also covers the way in which the methods of emigrants keeping in touch with the GAA back home has changed since the early 1980s. The relationship between New York and the rest of the North American GAA, and with Ireland is discussed, as are the challenges facing the GAA in the 21st century – the ground, emigration, developing underage players, the decline of hurling. The general areas of discipline and the importance of amateur status versus the demands being placed on players by the modern game are also discussed.