SUPER BOWL SUNDAY fell nicely for the members of the Ireland squad who hold an interest in American Football.

With a bonus-point win over Italy secured with little fuss and a couple of days off to look forward to, anyone who wanted to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers could do so safe in the knowledge a late night wouldn’t be a problem on Monday morning.

Second row Joe McCarthy was among those planning to stay up to watch the Chiefs claim a dramatic late win in Las Vegas.

McCarthy was born in New York and has followed the sport growing up, but admits some aspects of the game appeal to him more than others, which is perhaps no surprise for anyone who watched his aggressive defensive approach against the Italians.

“I love getting off the line, I love pressuring teams, love getting them ‘man and ball,’ getting (stuck) in at rucks,” McCarthy explains.

“I like watching the defensive players in NFL, like seeing the stuff they do.

“At the moment I like Maxx Crosby from the [Las Vegas] Raiders. I liked JJ Watt when he played. He is a beast, or was, he’s retired now, [but] I don’t think I’ll be changing over to the NFL any time soon. I’ll stick with the rugby.”

The interest in the more physical side of sport runs in the family. There is much excitement in Leinster around the potential of McCarthy’s younger brother, Paddy, a loosehead prop in the Leinster Academy. 

The day before Ireland swatted aside Italy at Aviva Stadium, Joe nipped out of the team hotel to watch Paddy line out for Trinity against Cork Con in the AIL, a game the Dublin side lost by two points.

“We chat the whole time. It’s class, he was playing in College Park and I walked down from the Shelbourne (hotel) and watched that.

He was lighting up a few lads. He’d usually be putting a few good shots on and say ‘Joe try and match that.’

“There’s always a bit of competition (between) us, even when we are not saying it to one another. One of us has a performance and we try and outdo each other a bit. It [defence] is something that has always been in our game.”

The elder McCarthy has enjoyed the bragging rights recently after an impressive couple of weeks with Ireland.

The Leinster lock was outstanding as Andy Farrell’s side stormed to victory in Marseille and while he was slightly less impactful with ball in hand against Italy, he left his mark on the game with an aggressive defensive showing which included a couple of ferocious hits on out-half Paolo Garbisi.

Already, his place in Farrell’s starting team looks certain.

“Every game is different that you go into,” McCarthy says.

“You’re always going to have different moments and plays. You want to have a well rounded game plan to be good in every area in this team.

“I love the defensive side of the game, probably like it more than the attack sometimes. The say defence win championships, so it’s good. ”

We were told we didn’t want to just contain them and be comfortable, the emphasis was to get off the line, so I was happy enough with that.”