McCarthy looks to be back to his best after injury nightmare
Midfielder stars for Galway United in emphatic win over Sligo Rovers
The celebrations on the pitch were as raucous as those amongst the fans in the away end at the final whistle as Galway United claimed a 4-1 win over Sligo Rovers in last Saturday night's Connacht derby in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Having emptied the tank during the game, Conor McCormack emptied his lungs with a guttural roar.
Wasiri Wiliams looked like he was lining-up a jump into the crowd to crowd-surf in full rockstar mode.
John Caulfield gave his traditional one, two, there fist pumps to the United fans after the win.
And over there to the left, Ed McCarthy was waving goodbye to the Sligo Rovers fans, all four fingers on his right hand raised, as well as the pointer finger on his left ,as he reminded the departing home fans of a final score that disappeared from the scoreboard almost as soon as the final whistle was blown.
"Of course it does," McCarthy replied when City Sport asked him after the game if the win meant as much to the players as it did to the fans, fans who have long-suffered in the Showgrounds: this was only a fifth league win in 53 visits to the venue.
"The fans are celebrating like mad, so it's good, it's good for us, gives us confidence heading into next week, we weren't lacking it, but they give us extra bit like and we will see what we can do," he said, with one eye on tonight's visit of Bohemians to Eamonn Deacy Park.
Last year I had a big injury, I came back, I don't think I was myself for a year, it just took me a bit to get going
It wasn't just United who were celebrating a rare win in the Showgrounds: it was the Limerick native's first win at the venue, having been injured when a Cian Byrne double gave United a 2-1 win at the venue in April last season which ended a 29-year wait for a league win at the home of United's Connacht rivals.
"For me as a player, it's my first win up here. I was injured last year when we won 2-1, so it was a sweet moment for me, but for the fans especially.
"I thought we played well from the from the start, and after conceding that penalty, to bounce back and go one-up. Evan pulls off a great save and Wass [Williams] clears off the line so to be 2-1 up at half-time, we knew that they'd come out strong in the 2nd half.
"We just dug deep and the boys came on and they change the game for us. John [Caulfield] says every week about what squad we have, it was there for everyone to see tonight. The boys who came on, Axel and Lee were excellent, then the two boys Kris and Francely came on and scored. It's important for the subs to have a big impact and they did tonight."
It is a team game, but it is put to McCarthy that it was his best performance in a United jersey in a year and a bit, as he looks to have finally recovered from a couple of injuries that put the brakes on his performances after an impressive 2024.
He missed a run of nine straight games early in the 2025 season, and while he did make 27 appearances across the league ad cup campaigns he managed a full 90 minutes just three times. That was a step back compared to 2024, when he played in all but one of United's 38 games that season, starting in all but three of them.
"Last year I had a big injury, I came back, I don't think I was myself for a year, it just took me a bit to get going.
This year, I had a little bit of a knock in preseason again, but I've got fit, I'm enjoying the last few games, I've played the full 90 in three of the last four.
"That's what it is, isn't it? It's confidence, it's getting 90 minutes, its about being fit, and once you have that, once you have confidence, once you are getting games, and then when you have the boys playing well as well, we all just click, we all work hard for each other, and it makes it a bit easier.
We're playing well. We conceded early last week [against Shamrock Rovers], but we probably got back on top of them, were just unlucky, probably the better team won but we bounced back today and we won the derby," he says, a big smile breaking across his face.