HE WAS as disappointed as anyone with the way Ireland’s 2025 campaign ended, but as he aims to challenge for success with Leinster in the coming weeks, Joe McCarthy has stressed the Six Nations is now very much in the past.

Having started every game during their march towards the Championship in 2024, McCarthy was looking to help Ireland secure a third title on the bounce in this year’s Six Nations.

Yet, despite securing a Triple Crown with just three rounds played, a comprehensive 42-27 defeat at the hands of France at the Aviva Stadium on 8 March ultimately played a huge part in Ireland finishing third in the final Championship standings.

This made it a somewhat underwhelming spring international window for McCarthy — who missed the opening two rounds of the Championship — but a month on from the end of the tournament, the focus has very much switched back to provincial rugby.

“You’re disappointed after it [the France game],” McCarthy says. “You missed the opportunity, but you had a game the next week [against Italy] we tried to get up for.

“We probably didn’t play our best even again the next week, but there is definitely just a good feeling now. We’ve moved on from that, and we’re trying to chase down success with Leinster now.

“I was buzzing to come back into Leinster. It’s such a good environment we have here. In Ireland as well, we’ve a great environment, but I was super excited to get back up and playing. Obviously, we didn’t win a Six Nations or anything, so you’re even more hungry to get back and be successful with Leinster.”

McCarthy couldn’t have asked for a more welcome return to Leinster duty as his two appearances for the eastern province since the end of the Six Nations Championship have been in utterly emphatic wins at the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup.

After crossing the whitewash in a 62-0 success at the expense of Harlequins in a Round of 16 affair at Croke Park on 5 April, McCarthy lasted the full 80 minutes in the second row when Leo Cullen’s men defeated Glasgow Warriors 52-0 in a Champions Cup quarter-final in the Aviva Stadium last Friday.

Even though they amassed 18 tries across these two games, a lot of praise has been heaped upon Leinster for completing two successive defensive shut-outs, and McCarthy acknowledged that he and his provincial colleagues take great pride in being so difficult to break down.

“We definitely would be thinking about it, especially when clearing out a defensive set or a scrum near our line. We’re definitely talking about defending and not giving them anything easy.

“Our mindset is we’re going after them as hard if the game was super tight in the last minute as we are in the first minute. It was definitely the mindset of not giving them any easy scores.”

Last seen in United Rugby Championship action against Munster on 27 December of last year, McCarthy is set for a long overdue return to the competition when Ulster pay a visit to the Aviva this Saturday evening for a 7.35pm kick-off.

He is one of five players who will be assessed later in the week before a decision is made about his availability for this weekend’s game — Jack Conan, Ryan Baird, Rob Russell and Will Connors are the others — but McCarthy’s younger brother Paddy is close to full fitness following a recent lay-off.

Currently in his first season as a member of the Leinster senior squad, Paddy was sidelined for the opening few months of 2024/25 before he eventually saw game time off the bench against the Stormers and Ospreys in the URC in January and February, respectively.

Although the promising prop also featured for Ireland ‘A’ in their international duel with England ‘A’ at Ashton Gate in Bristol on 23 February, another injury picked up in training shortly afterwards ruled him out of contention for some of Leinster’s most recent fixtures.

From experience, the elder McCarthy knows injuries can materialise when a player steps up from an academy squad to a senior set-up, and he is hoping his brother won’t have any more setbacks in the near future.

“He’s had a tough season with injuries. He got injured in training a week after that England v Ireland ‘A’ game, so he’s buzzing to go. I found that myself. When you come up to senior rugby, it probably takes a little bit of time to adjust. He’s probably going through that now, so hopefully he can have a good run now until the end of the season,” McCarthy added.