Following the retirement of Dan Parks, Carty became Connacht's first choice at fly-half for the 2014–15 season. He made 21 appearances in the Pro12, with 16 of these coming as starts. Carty played in five of the team's six 2014–15 Challenge Cup games, starting all but one of these. He also started the team's final game of the season, a play-off against Gloucester. The following season saw Carty continue to be first choice through to February 2016, when he injured himself on a water slide in Dubai and to have his spleen removed. He returned to first team action that April, but couldn't dislodge AJ MacGinty and Shane O'Leary and missed out on a place in the Pro12 Final on 28 May. Carty appeared in 12 Pro12 and five Challenge Cup games in the 2015–16 season before his accident, and only two Pro12 games afterwards.