John and James McCarthy hold the record for All-Ireland medals between father and son with 12, one more than Ogie and David Moran of Kerry
With James McCarthy’s retirement this week after a career that soured to even greater heights than his father John’s lofty peak, we rank the best father-son combinations in the history of the game.John McCarthy first slipped into the Dublin senior team when it was far from fashionable, as reflected by the fact that his debut was a Leinster second round replay loss to Louth in 1973. But the following year, everything would change.
His career petered out somewhat in the ‘80s, along with many of the great ‘70s team, though he did earn a recall to the panel from Heffernan in 1984 and finished with a total of 14-50 from 67 appearances. Captaining Dublin to win his ninth All-Ireland last year, thereby surpassing a quintet of Kerry greats that his father faced down, was the crowning glory.
He won his first All-Ireland in 1976 and famously scored the game-breaking goal in the following year’s semi-final win over Kerry and though the success started to dry up after that, he won his only All Star in 1979. Between father and three sons, they hold 13 All-Irelands, eight All Stars and two Footballer of the Year awards.Dublin’s All-Ireland win in 2023 saw the McCarthys surpass the Morans, who had drawn level with them on 11 All-Irelands the year before.
He was sensational in the epic semi-final replay win over Mayo in Limerick and became Kerry’s principal midfielder for the rest of his career, which ended in 2022 with his third All-Ireland. He also won two All Stars, one more than his father.One of Ulster’s most celebrated footballers ever, James McCartan was centre-forward on the Down side that won the county’s first All-Irelands in 1960 and ‘61.
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