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17th Jan 2019

The nuclear missile from Conor McCarthy that shattered camera behind the goals

Niall McIntyre

Conor McCarthy loves the Sigerson Cup.

Last year, the Monaghan hotshot was unplayable in the decider as he danced around NUIG defenders and kicked UCD to their first Sigerson Cup in three years.

It’s that time of the year again and the dainty 22-year-old is still knocking about.

This is what he lives for. UCD were up against it in their pipe opener for this year’s campaign with plenty of their lads slow to get going as a hyped-up CIT roared into a 0-7 0-1 lead after seventeen minutes of the action.

McCarthy was rearing for it though.

And with CIT threatening to put clear daylight between themselves and the favourites heading into the second half, the Scotstown dancer came alive and he kept UCD alive.

He scored two goals in the space of two explosive first half minutes, one of them bursting a hole through the CIT net before shattering Jerome Quinn’s in goal camera such was the ferocity of the left-footed shot.

Watch a video of McCarthy taking it all out on the camera here.

“All I can do is apologise for that Jerome,” he said to HE GAA camera man Jerome Quinn afterwards who claimed that he’d never had a camera hit as hard.

“I was probably just trying to hit the ball as hard as I can out of pure frustration,” he added.

It was that intervention from McCarthy that settled UCD into it and despite still trailing by two at the break, they went on to take over in the second half, scoring 3-6 themselves and holding CIT scoreless.

It would remind you of a certain Paddy Bradley in his prime.

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