He's the man who exactly 100 years ago gave his name to hurling’s most famous trophy, the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
But with the All-Ireland final between Cork and Limerick just days away, the GAA has been accused of turning a blind eye to the legacy of London-born Liam MacCarthy.
Sean Meaney, a distant relative of MacCarthy, has spent over two decades lobbying Croke Park chiefs to commemorate the contributions made to gaelic games by his famous ancestor with a permanent monument - a tribute which, he argues, has been afforded to fellow GAA stalwarts like Sam Maguire.
The London-based Dubliner said his hopes of a breakthrough were finally lifted two years ago when he received correspondence from GAA headquarters, assuring him that this year’s centenary anniversary of the founding of the Liam MacCarthy Cup would be “suitably marked”.
However, with details of any planned centenary tribute yet to emerge from GAA headquarters, exasperated Meaney accused Croke Park chiefs of “going back on their word” and “deliberately snubbing” MacCarthy.
He said: “I don’t know why the GAA seems to be totally ignoring Liam MacCarthy, when everyone else seems to get a fair crack of the whip.
“This would have been the ideal timing to finally honour Liam MacCarthy, but yet again he has been snubbed. He really is the most forgotten and overlooked man in Irish sport.
"I can only conclude that the GAA is embarrassed because he was born in London, rather than Ireland.”
Born in London in 1851 to an emigrant couple who had been evicted from their home in Balygarvan, Co. Cork, MacCarthy went on to establish the London GAA county board, where he was chairman for 10 years.
In 1920 he designed and funded the making of a new cup, which he donated to the GAA. From the following year it was known as the Liam MacCarthy Cup and has been presented to the All-Ireland senior hurling champions ever since.
Yet, despite his lasting contribution to the organisation, MacCarthy died forgotten and poverty-stricken - and was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in London, until a headstone was eventually erected in 2006.
To date the GAA has declined to comment on whether it’s planning to pay tribute to MacCarthy in this centenary year.
But two years ago Croke Park chiefs voted down a proposal to fund a permanent memorial of the GAA founder-member, reasoning that having the All-Ireland trophy named after MacCarthy “already honours his very valued contribution to the GAA”.
However, Meaney strongly disagrees, arguing: “I could maybe understand their position if every other GAA founder member had been treated the same. But that’s simply not the case. There’s a statue of Sam Maguire in Dunmanaway, Co. Cork, and numerous other memorials to other figures. But there’s still no lasting memorial to MacCarthy, which is scandalous.”
He added: “If ever the GAA was going to do something, it would surely be now. The timing is perfect and even the finalists are hugely symbolic, because MacCarthy’s father was born in Cork, and his mother was born in Limerick.”
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