Sean McCarthy’s career in football will best be remembered as the hustling and bustling centre-forward that scored goals for Bradford City and Oldham Athletic during the 1990s but the former Republic of Ireland international bookended those spells in the north by making many great friends with two spells at Plymouth’s Home Park

You’d had a few good years with Swansea, what prompted the move to Plymouth?
I signed from Swansea, they paid £50,000 for me and I signed for Ken Brown in 1988. I had been at Swansea for five years and we couldn’t agree on a contract and I was out of contract in the summer, Ken Brown came up top watch me in a pre-season game and I ended up signing for Plymouth.

What was Ken Brown like to work with as a manager?
He was brilliant, he was a good manger. The two seasons I was there was in the old First Division, but we were always struggling against relegation for the two seasons I was there. But Ken was brilliant, he didn’t show any strains, I played under Joe Royle at Oldham and they were very similar managers, quite laid back but very good coaches.

One of the most memorable games from that time must have been the FA Cup game against Everton?
We were only averaging crowds of 9,000 but it ended up with 30,000 fans coming out of the woodwork, it was fantastic. I scored in the game and we were winning with four minutes to go, but they won a dubious penalty which Kevin Sheedy converted, that was our chance because we went to Goodison Park for the replay and ended up getting beat 4-0.

Everton were a quality side, it was on Match of the Day and I remember Jimmy Hill saying that the penalty was very harsh. They had Neville Southall, Dave Watson, Sharp and Cottee up front, Kevin Sheedy, Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens, McCall in midfield, it was a great great team.

You also had the privilege of playing with the legendary Tommy Tynan.
Tommy Tynan was a great player, I learnt a lot of of him. People probably didn’t give him the credit that he deserved, they just thought that he was a goalscorer but he had a little bit more to him than that, he could hold the ball up. But his main threat was in the 18-yard box, I remember playing in one game against Blackburn Rovers, I got sent off so we were down to 10 men but Tommy ended up scoring four goals, we beat them 4-3. He used to come alive in the box, he was a great goalscorer.

You finally left Home Park and moved north to enjoy great success with two northern sides on opposite sides of the Pennines.
Ken Brown got the sack at the end of the second season I was there and in the summer I was out of contract and there was a lot of clubs interested in me, I had a few phonecalls and I didn’t know whether I was going to get a new contract. Bradford came down to meet me in a hotel in Newport and they thrashed out a deal there and then, they put the offer on the table and I accepted and I had three and a half good years at Bradford.

There are a lot of clubs up and around that area, when you play for teams like Swansea and Plymouth every away trip is an overnight stay but up north there are so many clubs within a radius of a one hour drive and there is not so much travelling. I still keep in touch with a lot of people up there, my main strike partner at Bradford was Paul Jewell, we had three and half great seasons and we were quite close buddies. I was lucky enough to score quite a few goals at Bradford and there were quite a few clubs interested in me. It was Oldham who put £550,000 on the table for me and I was across the Pennines for four great years, one of which was in the Premiership, that was a great place to play with places like Old Trafford and Highbury.

I had a brief spell with Bristol City on loan for the last ten games of the season and I remember the last game of the season was at Preston, we lost the game 2-1 but I scored a goal. I’ll never forget the day though because my father passed away the day before, John Ward was the manager and he told me to have a lie down and if I felt like playing then he would leave the decision up to me. I spoke to my family and they just said try and score a goal for my dad, which I did. I helped Brstol City get promoted before I returned to Plymouth for three more great years.

Last Three Plymouth Visits To Deepdale

28th September 2004
PNE 1-1 Plymouth
Billy Davies’ last game in charge in the caretaker capacity saw Richard Cresswell rescue a point for the Lilywhites after Matthias Doumbe had opened the scoring.

1st November 1997
PNE 0-1 Plymouth
A third successive home defeat for Gary Peters’ side as Carlo Corazzin gets the only goal of the game to leave the Lilywhites struggling at the wrong end of the table.

5th April 1997
PNE 1-1 Plymouth
North End’s first season back in League One sees them struggling with mediocrity, David Reeves opens the scoring but Mark Saunders equalises for the Pilgrims.