BY ANNA HUMPHREYS
CORK hurling icon Justin McCarthy and his son RTÉ broadcaster Justin, have been named as June Cork Persons of the Month.
Justin Sr, from Rochestown, had a playing career that spanned nearly 30 years, including a 10-year stint with the Cork senior hurling team. McCarthy got his first taste of competitive hurling with the Capuchin College in Rochestown where he took part at under-14, under-15, and under-16 levels.
McCarthy’s inter-county career reached a crescendo in 1966 where, in one legendary season, he won a Munster under-21 hurling championship, a Munster senior hurling championship, an all-Ireland under-21 hurling championship, an all-Ireland senior hurling championship and became the then-youngest winner of the hurler of the year
award.
He coached Cork across two periods, from 1975-1976 and 1984-1985, where he won three Munster championships in 1974, 1985, and 1986, and an all-Ireland senior hurling championship in 1984. Justin also wrote his biography, entitled Hooked – A Hurling
Life.
His son, Justin, is best known for presenting RTÉ Radio One’s This Week before becoming political correspondent for Today FM.
In total, he holds five PPI and IMRO radio awards for news reporting and broadcasting.
‘We hope to occasionally highlight Cork families in our awards scheme and the McCarthys are the first that our judges have chosen,’ said awards organiser Manus O’Callaghan.
Their names will go forward alongside the other monthly winners for selection as Cork Persons of the Year at the annual gala awards lunch, to be held in January.
