He made his
Twenty20 debut on 20 May 2016 for Durham against
Worcestershire Rapids in the
2016 NatWest t20 Blast. In June 2016 he was named in Ireland's squad for their
One Day International (ODI) series
against Sri Lanka, having previously represented
Ireland U19s in five matches. He made his ODI debut for Ireland on 16 June 2016. He made his
Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for Ireland
against Afghanistan on 10 March 2017 and took 4 wickets. However, his performance in only his 2nd T20I with bowling figures were the
most expensive bowling figures in a T20I. Following the conclusion of the
2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, the
International Cricket Council (ICC) named McCarthy as the rising star of Ireland's squad. In November 2018, McCarthy left Durham to focus on his international career with Ireland. In December 2018, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by
Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season. In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test
against Afghanistan in India, but he did not play. In May 2019, in the opening match of the
2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series against the West Indies, McCarthy took his 50th wicket in ODI cricket. In October 2019, he was added to Ireland's squad ahead of the playoff matches in the
2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates, replacing
David Delany, who was ruled out due to an injury. On 10 July 2020, McCarthy was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training
behind closed doors for the ODI series
against the England cricket team. In September 2021, McCarthy was named in Ireland's provisional squad for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. McCarthy was named in Ireland's
Test squad for their tours of
Bangladesh in March 2023 and
Sri Lanka in April 2023. He was also named in the T20I and ODI squads for the Bangladesh tour. In 2023 McCarthy registered his maiden T20I half-century with a score of 51* off 33 balls against
India in a rain-affected T20I encounter at
Malahide. He would make his
Test debut in Ireland's
historic maiden Test victory against Afghanistan in February 2024.
Hashmatullah Shahidi was his first Test victim,
caught behind by
Lorcan Tucker. He went on to take four wickets in the match as Ireland won by 6 wickets. In the first match of the
2024 Interprovincial Trophy season McCarthy set a new record for best bowling in the competition with figures of 5/3 for
Leinster Lightning against
Munster Reds, also breaking his career best bowling figures. In May 2024, he was named in Ireland’s squad for the
2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. ==References==