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James McGarry (born 26 November 1971 in Bennettsbridge, County Kilkenny) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Bennettsbridge and with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team. He plays as a goalkeeper on both teams and is widely regarded as one of the best in the country. McGarry is rumoured to announce his retirement from inter-county hurling and therefore is not likely to take part in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2008.[1]
He has been nominated for seven All Stars, but never actually received the actual award.[2]
[edit] Playing career
McGarry plays his club hurling with his local Bennettsbridge. Although best known as a goalkeeper, McGarry began his playing career as an outfield player. While Bennettsbridge were once regarded as one of the best teams in the county championship their fortunes have taken a downturn in the last few decades. In spite of this McGarry has still had some success with the club, winning Intermediate League county medals and county junior football medals.
[edit] Inter-county
Surprisingly McGarry never played at minor or under-21 levels for his native county. Instead he first came to prominence as a goalkeeper on the Kilkenny junior hurling team. He played in three consecutivre All-Ireland junior finals, however, he only ended up on the winning side on one occasion in 1995. It was his performances with the junior team that brought McGarry to the attention of the senior selectors.
McGarry joined the Kilkenny senior hurling panel in 1998 as sub goalkeeper to Joe Dermody. At the age of 27 it appeared that his chance at senior championship hurling may have past by. All this changed in 1999 when he took over as the first-choice goalkeeper on the senior team under the new manager Brian Cody. That year he won his first Leinster title following a comprehensive victory over All-Ireland champions Offaly. McGarry later lined out in his first All-Ireland final, with arch-rivals Cork providing the opposition. Although he kept a clean sheet a Cork team, with an average age of 22, came back from four-points down to win the game by the narrowest of margins. In 2000 McGarry captured a second Leinster title as Kilkenny steamrolled Offaly once again in the provincial final. The two sides later met in the All-Ireland final, however, two goals from Henry Shefflin helped ‘the Cats’ to secure a huge victory in one of the most one-sided finals in decades. McGarry had finally claimed a first All-Ireland medal. In 2001 he added a third successive Leinster medal to his collection as Kilkenny completely overpowered Wexford in the final. After such a huge win ‘the Cats’ were hot favourites to retain the title, however, Kilkenny were outsmarted by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. ‘The Cats’ bounced back in 2002 with McGarry claiming a first National Hurling League medal. He subsequently claimed yet another Leinster title before later lining out in a third All-Ireland final. Clare, who were defeated in the first-round of the Munster championship but had made it to the final via the newly introduced qualifier system, put up a good fight, however, McGarry claimed another clean sheet. A combined tally of 2-13 for Henry Shefflin and D.J. Carey gave Kilkenny a seven-point victory and gave McGarry a second All-Ireland medal.
In 2003 McGarry captured a fifth consecutive Leinster medal. Kilkenny later faced Cork in an exciting and close All-Ireland final. The Leinstermen never lead by more than four-points and only secured victory with a late Martin Comerford goal. McGarry won his third All-Ireland medal that day, however, he was still omitted from the All-Star selection. In 2004 Kilkenny were aiming for an unprecedented third All-Ireland victory in-a-row, however, the team was now under severe pressure from all quarters. For the first time in seven years Kilkenny failed in their bid to become Leinster champions as a last-gasp Wexford goal ended an almost unprecedented run of success. Kilkenny took the scenic route via the qualifiers system, however, after a scare against Clare they still reached the All-Ireland final. Once again Cork provided the opposition on a gloomy and overcast day. The sides were level for much of the game, however, in the final twenty minutes Cork scored nine points without reply and secured the victory. In spite of ending up on the losing side McGarry entered the record books as the only player in history to secure three clean sheets in All-Ireland finals. Kilkenny were back in form in 2005 with McGarry adding a second National League medal to his ever-growing collection. He later won a sixth Leinster title as ‘the Cats’ had a narrow win over reigning provincial champions Wexford. While a third successive All-Ireland showdown with Cork seemed extremely likely, Galway defeated Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final in one of the game’s of the decade. In 2006 he captured his third National League title in a close victory over Limerick. Shefflin later won his seventh Leinster title before lining out in the All-Ireland final. The game that everyone had predicted would happen in 2005 was now taking place as Cork squared up to Kilkenny for the third time in four years. The Leesiders were aiming for a third All-Ireland victory in-a-row, however, revenge was foremost in the minds of Kilkenny as it was Cork who denied their three-in-a-row bid in 2004. On the day Kilkenny were far too strong for Cork and McGarry played a huge role in capturing Kilkenny's 29th title and his own fourth All-Ireland medal.
In 2007 McGarry was dropped as the first-choice goalkeeper and was replaced by P.J. Ryan. In the All-Ireland semi-final Ryan fractured his arm and for a while it looked like McGarry would make an emotional return after his wife’s tragic death.[1] In the end Ryan made a spectacular recovery and was fit to play. Kilkenny went on to defeat Limerick on that occasion and McGarry and his son received a special mention from captain Henry Shefflin as he received the Liam McCarthy Cup.
McGarry has also won two Railway Cup medals as goalkeeper on the Leinster side. He also captained Ireland to success in the annual shinty competition between Ireland and Scotland in 2002.
[edit] References
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Runners-up 1999 |
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions 2000 (26th title) |
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions 2002 (27th title) |
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions 2003 (28th title) |
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Runners-up 2004 |
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Kilkenny - All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions 2006 (29th title) |
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