[1] He played hurling with his local club St Martin's and with the Wexford senior inter-county team.
McCarthy first played hurling and Gaelic football to a high standard as a student at St Peter's College in Wexford.
He lined out in all grades as a dual player during his time there, and was part of the team that won the Leinster Colleges SFC title after a defeat of Portarlington CBS in 1992.
McCarthy made his senior team debut in 1994 and quickly became a regular member of the starting fifteen.
[6] He won a Leinster SHC medal in 1996, before playing at right wing-forward when Wexford beat Limerick in the 1996 All-Ireland final.