Lincoln-Way grad represents his family’s Irish football legacy at Northwestern’s game in Dublin

When Northwestern’s football team won a come-from-behind 31-28 thriller over Nebraska in Ireland last weekend, Wildcat heroes such as Xander Mueller and Ryan Hilinski celebrated wildly after the game.

But a player who didn’t get in the game had just as much fun celebrating and was treated like a hero.

The game was played in Dublin and former Lincoln-Way East standout Declan Carr had quite an entourage that came to see him represent the Wildcats.

He estimated 57 members of the announced crowd of 42,699 at Aviva Stadium were there to support him, and most of them were from Ireland.

“It was incredible,” he said. “To get the win is great and to get it against a Big Ten opponent like Nebraska, and to do it in another country in front of so many family members was definitely awesome.”

Carr graduated from Drake and in 2021 was an All-Pioneer second-team member. He had two interceptions in a road game against Valparaiso in a game that he estimated had 25 friends and family members cheering him on.

Carr transferred to Northwestern and is a graduate student focusing on project management with two years of eligibility remaining. Oh, and it didn’t hurt that the Wildcats were playing in Ireland for a game.

“The way it lined up in terms of being in my fifth year — it was a big event that got my whole family out there. We have a big family, so I had a chance to talk to some of my cousins who I haven’t seen in a while,” Carr said.

“The whole Carr family came together and to share that experience with them was fun especially when some of them weren’t familiar with American football.”

They are now, after watching the Big Ten Conference thriller.

“They are all huge fans of American football and Northwestern now,” Carr said.

One family member who did not make the trip was Paddy Carr, Declan’s 89-year-old grandfather. Paddy watched the game from his living room in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood. Paddy said he was proud that Declan was able to represent the Wildcats in the same country he enjoyed athletic success in when he played for the Warrenpoint Gaelic Football Club. Paddy was the youngest of the 10-sibling Carr family and many of them played a brand of football that resembles soccer and rugby.

“We played in shirts and pants,” Paddy said. “No padding.”

Though the Carrs played on an amateur level in Ireland, they were dedicated to the sport.

According to family members, Declan’s great uncle Barney was the first manager to bring the Sam McGuire Cup to County Down. His cousin Ross was also a two- time, all-Ireland Championship player in the 1990s.

Paddy came to America in the early 1960s sponsored by an American soldier who had been stationed in Warrenpoint on his way to Normandy during World War II.

He met and married his wife, Virginia, in Chicago and raised three boys including Patrick, a retired Air Force officer who is Tinley Park’s village manager and Declan’s father.

Paddy calls Declan “a great lad” and followed his career from the start, including attending Lincoln-Way East games in 2017, when the Griffins won the Class 8A state championship.

“It is always great to see my grandson playing American football,” he said. “Oh, it was an exciting game. I love American football.

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“I was a Bears fan when Mike Ditka was the coach. I’m a Bears fan when they win. I don’t like them when they lose.”

Nebraska had crushed NU, 56-7, last year in Lincoln, and it looked like more of the same could be in store for the Wildcats in Dublin when they were down 28-17 in the third quarter last weekend. But NU staged a furious comeback that caused a huge celebration on the field afterward.

And Declan was in the middle of it.

“It was so fun being there with teammates with all of the celebration and joy,” he said. “I chuckled and said ‘Wow this is just the first game!’’’

Declan said the Wildcats were able to get away from the business of football for a little while in Dublin. He said the team engaged in hurling and Gaelic football.

“It was fun to learn about those sports and to learn about their importance to Ireland,” Declan said. “It was pretty cool to keep up the family’s sporting legacy back there.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.