Inside the life and career of DJ Carey as GAA star pleads guilty to fraud
The former Kilkenny left-wing forward was set to stand trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, but Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, indicated a jury would not be required and Carey would be entering guilty pleas.
Carey entered guilty pleas to dishonestly inducing people to pay him money after he wrongfully claimed to have cancer and needed money for his treatment. Former hurling star DJ Carey pleaded to 10 counts of defrauding a number of people out of money while faking a cancer diagnosis. Pic: Collins Courts
As the former hurler awaits his sentencing later in the year, Extra.ie take a look inside the sporting career and personal life of the 54-year-old fraudster.
DJ has three bothers and three sisters — one of which is Catriona Carey — with the whole family steeping in Kilkenny GAA.
The Kilkenny man shares two children — Michael and Sean — with his ex-wife Christine. The pair wed in the 90s and enjoyed seven years of marriage before their split in 2003. DJ Carey with his ex-wife Christine in 2000. Pic: Damien Eagers/Sportsfile
DJ was later in a romantic relationship with former Dragon Den star Sarah Newman with the pair engaged to marry — but the wedding was subsequently called off. Last year, Sarah married millionaire Henry Digby, the Baron of Offaly at St Andrew's Church in Dorset. DJ Carey and Sarah Newman. Pic: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
Like many young fellas, DJ took up hurling in his primary school days, and went on to play for both the Minor and Senior Kilkenny teams.
He made his Senior debut during the 1988-89 National League, lining out in goal for Kilkenny on February 19, 1989. He was later switched to an outfield position, becoming one of the best hurlers of his time.
Amongst his accolades, DJ won five All Ireland Senior Hurling Championships — one of which he captained Kilkenny — as well as ten Leinster Senior Championships.
He won 9 All-Star Awards as well as two Hurler of the Year awards. Like many young fellas, DJ Carey took up hurling in his primary school days, and went onto play for both the Minor and Senior Kilkenny teams. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland
The county player retired from hurling in 2006, but later returned to the sport in a managerial capacity. His first post was with the Institute of Technology, Carlow (now South Eas Technological University) with the college team making it to the final fo their first ever Fitzgibbon Cup. They lost to reigning champions, Mary Immacute College. DJ Carey managing IT Carlow. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
DJ Carey also fulfilled duties for the Leinster inter-provincial team; the Kilkenny U-21 team as well as the Kilkenny senior hurling team where he was a selector under Brian Cody.
He left the gig in January 2021.
In 2023, it was unveiled that DJ scammed 23 people to donate funds to him after he fraudulently claimed he needed the money for cancer treatment.
Amongst the charges were 19 of deception and two charges for using false instruments between 2014 and 2022.
At the time, DJ denied all charges with a trial date set for Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
Following confirmation that the former hurling star would be entering guilty pleas, he was remanded on continuing bail with his sentencing hearing due for October 29.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
37 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Brian Gavin: Widegate scoreboard error unfair on Kilkenny but difficult to contest result
Another Tipperary-Kilkenny meeting in Croke Park and another controversy. In 2014, there was HawkEye and five years later it was Richie Hogan's sending off. Now we have Widegate. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Take us with you this summer. Annual €130€65 Best value Monthly €12€6 / month
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
'The pinnacle is the solo performance': Magic memories of the Munster Fleadh Cheoil
More than 3,000 musicians, dancers, singers, Gaeilgeoirí, lilters, and storytellers will compete at Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan, vying to become Munster champions and qualify for the All-Ireland Fleadh in Wexford. A total of 176 competitions will be held at Munster Technological University's Bishopstown campus and from the under-12 tin whistle slow airs category to the senior céilí bands, the rivalry will be intense. The music lessons attended since last September, the long miles travelled through winter weather to dancing classes, Comhaltas groups, and the hours upon hours of individual practice, practice, and more practice: For those who made it through their competitions at the Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Limerick, Clare, or Tipperary county fleadhanna, everything is now distilled into a few fleeting minutes in front of the Munster Fleadh judges. Few understand, indeed thrive on, the pressure of competition better than Buttevant's Alan Finn, multiple all-Ireland winner in solo, duet, trio, and céilí band competitions and mentor to a string of champion youth céilí bands at Craobh Chrónáin Comhaltas branch in Freemount, North Cork. Amid the maelstrom of this year's Munster Fleadh performances though, he will showcase a project which though rooted in the Fleadh, transcends the competitive aspect of the festival, tapping into its role as a nexus; a musical meeting point where the ultimate prizes are the bonds forged with kindred spirits in sessions lifting with collective raw energy. Alan Finn, Joanne Quirke, Paul Clesham, and Fionn O'Hanlon launch their album 'Twas Many a Wild Night during Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan at the Oliver Plunkett in Cork on July 18, 8pm. Picture: Michael Meade Fleadh friendships are a cornerstone of the new album 'Twas Many a Wild Night, featuring Finn, fellow Cork musician and teacher Joanne Quirke, Mayo multi-instrumentalist and music teacher Paul Clesham, and North Cork bouzouki player Fionn O'Hanlon – all multiple Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann winners. 'How we became friends would have been through the Fleadh. We'd have all met each other at Fleadhs and even competed against each other at times,' says Finn. 'I would have run into Joanne a few times at Fleadhs before she started playing in sessions. She was involved in the groups in Douglas [Comhaltas] and they would have come against my Freemount groups, but then we actually competed against each other one year when we did the miscellaneous [instrument competition]. She played the fife and I played the viola and the two of us went through to the All-Ireland in 2014. 'I knew Paul from judging Fleadhs up the country as well, and our circles would have crossed. Paul went to college in Cork, and myself and Joanne would have been playing gigs together around Cork,' he adds. 'I initially had taught Fionn in the underage bands and groups from Freemount, competing in the Fleadh. 'Myself and Joanne broached the subject of recording – we'd been talking about it for a long time but because we were so busy we never got it tied down.' The covid pandemic halted all Fleadh practices and gigs in 2020, but the relaxation of restrictions between lockdowns allowed a window of opportunity to work on a recording. After positive feedback from initial airplay,'Twas Many a Wild Night was completed post-pandemic and will be launched during Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan at the Oliver Plunkett on July 18. Among the tracks are tunes sourced in North Cork from the collections of Churchtown fiddle player 'Boss' Murphy and accordion player John Murphy of Killavullen, as well as 'Scully's Slide' learned in Newmarket from Timmy Connors, who passed away last December. Tracks from Cork composers Connie O'Connell and Johnny McCarthy feature, alongside a polka written by this year's Gradam Ceoil lifetime achievement award winner Matt Cranitch. Matt Cranitch, winner of the U18 All-Ireland fiddle competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Cashel in 1965. From Rathduff, near Mallow, Cranitch is a renowned musician, author of The Irish Fiddle Book, and academic, awarded a PhD for his study of Pádraig O'Keeffe and the Sliabh Luachra fiddle tradition. A musical career encompassing Na Filí, Any Old Time, Sliabh Notes, and a partnership with Jackie Daly also included Fleadh participation in Cranitch's early days. 'As a youngster growing up I competed,' he recalls. 'They didn't have the kind of hierarchical structure which they now have with regard to winning the county and then on to the province and then on to all-Ireland. You could compete in more counties and in more competitions. I think it's also fair to say that there were probably fewer people competing at that time, rather than the huge numbers of people who enter competitions now. 'I did compete at all levels – county, provincial, and all-Ireland, and I was lucky enough to come home with the silver from time to time,' adds Cranitch, who won both fiddle and slow airs all-Ireland honours. 'I played solo, duet, and trio. I recall winning an All-Ireland with Tomás Ó Canainn and Tom Barry - we later became 'Na Filí'. I also competed with one or two céilí bands at county level – the Domhnall Ó Mairtín Céilí Band – and I think our Cranitch family band entered at some stage. 'But for a lot of musicians the pinnacle is the solo performance – it's also the hardest because you're on your own totally,' he adds. 'There are mixed views about competitions and whether they are good or bad. I suppose you gain a certain recognition, in that you become known, and the fact that it's a stimulus to improve one's playing and to practise, which brings you up in standard… and we all like to get accolades.' Máire Ní Chéileachair. Picture: John Murphy For Cork sean-nós singer Máire Ní Chéileachair, entering her first Fleadh Cheoil was a milestone, not least since she didn't pluck up courage to do so until she was over 40. When she did take the plunge, the decision paid off not only in terms of competition success but in opening up a new world of singing sessions and musical community. 'My first Fleadh was 1996 and I was nervous because I hadn't ever done it,' she says. 'We're all nervous about being judged, no matter what age we are. 'I didn't know whether I had the talent or skill or the style. I would not have had the confidence and been able to judge, had I a traditional style of singing, but when somebody else says it to you and writes it down on a sheet of paper… and to be given a prize gave me great courage to continue singing. 'It was also very exciting to be singing and taking part. The first time I got through Cork [Fleadh] I won the all-Ireland and that was amazing,' adds Ní Chéileachair, who followed her all-Ireland sean-nós singing title in 1996 with the English singing prize at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 1999. She went on to lift the Corn Uí Riada at Oireachtas na Samhna and receive a TG4 Gradam Ceoil, as well as passing on the sean-nós songs of Cork's Múscraí Gaeltacht to young singers under the Aisling Gheal scheme, from which she retired this summer after 25 years. 'The other important thing about the Fleadh is meeting other singers,' she adds, recalling her first experiences of Fleadh singing sessions. 'I remember being at the all-Ireland in Clonmel and meeting all these singers and I was in heaven altogether. Micheál Marrinan was there, Paddy Berry and others and I spent all my time in the hotel listening to the singing sessions. 'That was wonderful as well, making friends, all through the years meeting singers at Fleadhs and the fun of meeting those people who you wouldn't meet during the year. To be in that circle of singing is lovely, to feel part of that. You can't put a value on the friendship.' Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan runs June 12-19. See Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan highlights Music sessions in more than 30 Cork City pubs July 17-19; Musicians, singers, and dancers perform at Fleadh Gig-Rig at Elizabeth Fort, July 17-19; Fleadh concerts with Téada on July 11, Peter Street July 12, Máirtín Ó Connor Trio July 17, and Tara Breen, Pádraig Rynne, and Jim Murray July 19; Four days of competitions at MTU's Bishopstown Campus begin with dancing on July 16 at 9am and conclude with the senior céilí band contest on July 19 at 7.15pm; Set-dancing céilí with Hammer the Floor at Douglas GAA Club, July 18; Fleadh Club at the Crane Lane with Taobh na Mara Céilí Band July 18 and Shandrum Céilí Band July 19; Oíche Scoraíochta, Spailpín Fánach July 17; Scéalaíocht do pháistí Cork City Library July 17; Singers' Night, Spailpín Fánach, July 18; Street entertainment competition July 12, 2-3.30pm, Oliver Plunkett St.
Sunday World
5 hours ago
- Sunday World
Disgraced hurler DJ Carey had ‘begging letter templates' he would send to cancer scam victims
Ex-GAA star targeted people he thought had money to scam them out of thousands The person described Carey as an 'emotional terrorist' who targeted them and a group of their friends in a bid to lure others into his scam to get money over his fake cancer yarn. This individual was due to be called as one of the state's 34 witnesses in the case against the legendary Kilkenny hurler over deceiving a string of people out of money before he this week pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 10 charges related to defrauding people who believed he had cancer. Today they unveil how the one-time sporting ace, who won five All-Ireland titles and is a former All Star and Kilkenny captain, caught people in his trap. Anonymous 'The investigating officers told us that, from half five in the morning until two o'clock the next night, he was busy with emails – he had three templates,' explains the person, who says they want to remain anonymous because they are fearful of him. DJ Carey in his playing days for Kilkenny 'Basically they were letters looking for help. He had one [relating to] Revenue, and he would send them to people in business who had issues with Revenue and they would be sympathetic. 'He had one related to the banks, saying 'the banks were at him' and they needed this help, and that was for people who he knew had issues with the banks. 'Then he had the one about cancer and sympathy. He sent that out to people who he knew either had cancer themselves or were bereaved because of cancer. He was sending them out to everybody.' The witness said they believe a lot of high-profile people were targeted by Carey. 'The police said it was literally a 'who's who' of Irish celebrities from the 1990s and 2000. He just randomly messaged everybody. He'd find their details or meet them at events,' they explain. 'We heard him one time on the phone to Mick McCarthy, and another time he said he was going to see Daniel O'Donnell in Donegal, whether he tried to bum money off him too, who knows. 'He'd keep in with GAA clubs, ministers, even lower level people so they'd feel starstruck with the big famous guy and so they'd be spilling the beans to him. He'd ring people gossiping all the time, looking for information on wealthy people or whoever.' The witness recalls how she first met the 54-year-old several years ago when they and a group of friends were approached by him in a shop in Kilkenny City while they were buying coffee. Started 'He just started talking to us and the second sentence was, 'I have terminal cancer',' they said. 'We would have recognised him from school, as we would have got a day off because of the All-Ireland, but we had never actually met him. He's a good bit older than all of us. 'I wasn't starstruck, the lads maybe, and he really milked that completely.' But having never seen him before Carey started turning up elsewhere. 'Almost the other same week the other group of our friends were in a restaurant, and he just sat there and made conversation and said the exact same thing,' they maintain. 'We found out later that he had been asking about us months before we actually met us. Him meeting us was not an accident, he researches people and does this to everyone.' The witness names a cancer victim whom Carey stung for €5000, but who managed to get it back off him. 'We would have had a few charity fundraisers in the town and he just did a bit of googling, and whoever was in the papers.' The witness also reveals how his story – about what he told them was his cancer journey – included dealing with a specialist in a Seattle hospital. 'The actual story of how he got 'cancer' is amazing,' Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 6th 'He maintained he had a number of aneurisms around 2011, he said he was brought into a Dublin hospital for a treatment for a brain aneurism and he said some foreign doctor made a mistake and gave his radium therapy, which you wouldn't do. 'He said not only did they make a mistake with the treatment but they gave him too much. 'He said he got a blood cancer called multiple myeloma from this radium thing.' They say that Carey then claimed he got his 'good friend Denis O'Brien' to engage with a solicitor to help him (Mr O'Brien was listed in court this week as one of Carey's 13 named victims he scammed out of money). 'Denis O'Brien doesn't know him from a hole in the wall, but he said Denis gave him a solicitor and he said they sued James' hospital and he got over €1 million in compensation,' they point out. 'When we met him [he claimed] the prognosis was very bad and he had eight months to live. He was such a good actor, even putting on a croaky voice. 'Then he said he went off to a faith healer and got 'better'. Then he got 'sick' again.' The witness says they lost some money through her dealings with Carey through a different issue, but managed to get it back. 'I think he thought we had loads of money because we did a load of charity stuff and had a lot of connections. We do a lot of stuff with sick children. 'It's very weird, it wouldn't ask for money directly. He'd say he had 'issues with Revenue' and the payment was coming soon having won this litigation with the bank, so what he was always doing was looking for money in lieu of this big payment coming 'For us he never asked us for any money for treatment, but he used us to spread the story he was sick. We are different type of victims. 'We would have introduced him to an awful lot of people. 'He was known for following people around, get to know what they were doing. 'He would find out people's Achilles heels and use it against them. He would turn up everywhere.' The witness and their group were eventually contacted by gardai. Uncomfortable 'The police said 'the only thing we can tell you that all he was trying to do was buy time because it made him look like he was legitimate and accompanying nice people',' they disclose. The witness says gardaí said they had never came across anyone like Carey. 'When they had him for 48 hours, that he sat down and he did not move,' they stress. 'He didn't speak and he had no comment, and wasn't a bit uncomfortable and didn't flinch, They have to give toilet breaks, so he'd just get up for them. 'They said he would never reply, not even 'no comment'. They got exacerbated that he was so steely and psychologically not perturbed. They said they actually gave us and they'd never had anybody in custody like that. 'What they said to us and others was they believe it was a psychological disorder and most likely psychopathy.' A spokesperson for Denis O'Brien told the Sunday World the businessman had 'no comment' to make about DJ Carey.
