At club level he played with Clonakilty and University College Dublin and was also a member of the Cork senior football team.
McCarthy first played Gaelic football and hurling at juvenile and underage levels with Clonakilty and won numerous divisional titles in both codes.
As a boarder at the De La Salle College in Waterford, he won several shield competitions, two Abbot Cup titles and lined out in the Corn Uí Mhuirí.
[3] McCarthy's performances in this grade resulted in an immediate call-up to the senior team and he was at left wing-forward when Cork beat Galway in the 1973 All-Ireland final.
[8] He qualified with a degree in agricultural science and worked as a secondary school teacher in Clonakilty Community College while also running the family newsagent.