John Cornelius "Con" McCarthy (10 February 1893 – 19 June 1975)[1] was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood and Footscray in the VFL.

Originally from Western Australia, McCarthy was a ruckman and started his league career in 1915 with Collingwood.

He also captained Victoria during his career, leading the VFL to victory at the 1921 Perth Carnival.

Footscray at the time was a rich and ambitious club attempting to gain admission to the VFL, and it made several aggressive recruiting plays like this to further its case; the Sporting Globe commented that McCarthy was the first "big money" player in the game.

[2] As captain-coach, McCarthy led Footscray to back-to-back VFA premierships in 1923 and 1924.