He played hurling with his local club Carrigtwohill and has been a member of the Cork senior inter-county team since 2002.
The Tadhg Mac Carthaigh's club provided the opposition on that occasion and went on to defeat McCarthy's side.
McCarthy's side lined out against Delaney's on that occasion and, after an exciting hour of hurling, the game ended in a draw.
Despite entering the game as underdogs McCarthy's team caused a huge shock and ran out 0–15 to 1-11 winners to take the title for the first time since 1918.
[citation needed] McCarthy first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Cork minor hurling team when he was just sixteen years-old in 1998.
Cork's hurlers defeated the Leinster champions by 2–17 to 2–8, giving McCarthy and All-Ireland winners' medal in this grade.
[citation needed] McCarthy's performances in the other grades of hurling brought him to the attentions of the Cork senior selectors.
A series of embarrassing defeats saw the Cork hurling team reach rock bottom and call a players' strike just before Christmas in 2002.
[citation needed] In 2003 Cork's players were vindicated in taking a stand as the team reached the Munster final for the first time in three years.
It was McCarthy's first Munster winners' medal in the senior grade and it gave a signal that Cork were back.
Both sides met again six days later with Cork making no mistake and taking the spoils on a score line of 3–17 to 2–7.
While it was expected that Cork and Kilkenny would do battle again in a third consecutive All-Ireland final Galway were the surprise winners of the second semi-final.
Star forward Joe Deane was to the fore, scoring an impressive eight points and contributing greatly to Cork's 2–11 to 1–11 victory over their old rivals and a third Munster medal for McCarthy.
[13] Subsequent victories over Limerick and Waterford saw Cork qualify for their fourth consecutive All-Ireland final and for the third time Kilkenny were the opponents.
Like previous encounters neither side took a considerable lead, however, Kilkenny had a vital goal from Aidan Fogarty.
He was later re-appointed for a further two-year term by the Cork County Board, in spite of the majority of the players not wanting him to stay on.
McCarthy accordingly began the 2009 National League campaign with a new squad, none of whom had been able to make the previous year's panel.
[citation needed] Following the resolution to these difficulties Cork were defeated by Tipperary on a score line of 1–19 to 0–19 in the opening round of the Munster campaign.
Cork faltered in the final ten minutes with McCarthy missing a golden goal opportunity that could have turned the game.
[citation needed] McCarthy retired from hurling in September 2016 due to a series of injuries and took up boxing.