Wegians captain Naughton celebrates his biggest ever win as city men promoted

VICTORIOUS Galwegians captain Ja Naughton says the city side’s promotion to the top flight of Irish club rugby is a ringing endorsement of the pool of talent that currently exists in Galway and its surrounds.

With their epic 17-13 win over Limerick outfit Garryowen at Crowley Park last Saturday, Galwegians clinched their second promotion in as many seasons and have now jumped from the third to first tier of club rugby in just 24 months.

In many respects, it reflects the significant work being done at local level in Galway at the moment. Naughton agrees. “It was a massive victory for the club, especially with the amount of local talent we have now compared to previous years where we had to go outside the province to get players in.

“That is my proudest thing. I think there are six or seven of us alone from the junior team that won in 2008 who are now playing senior rugby at this club. That doesn’t really happen to be honest or it hasn’t happened very much in previous years.”

In his 15th season with ‘Wegians, Naughton confirms Saturday’s win was the biggest he has had with the club and, again, reiterates that it was all the sweeter because the majority of the team are players he has come up through the ranks with.

“Most of us played 20s together. Just take the front row there, myself, ‘Fitzy’ (Ross Fitzgerald) and Doran McHugh all played 20s together and then from the junior team you have Brian McClearn, Barry Lee and Brian Murphy and you had a couple of lads on the fringes of that squad as well. So, we have been playing together since we were 18s and 20s.”

Certainly, Galwegians have played their part in the promotion of the game in the West of Ireland and this can seen by the huge number of children heading to Crowley Park week in, week out. “It is definitely down to the structure the club has put in place,” continues Naughton.

“You can see the amount of kids coming through the youth system at the moment. You will have 500 or 600 kids up there on a Saturday and during the week and by just sticking to the young players and giving young lads a chance the club has progressed.

“Obviously, we have lost players through the recession over the years – some players have had to go abroad – but anyone at home in Galway can see the standard we have at this club.”

Indeed, the 29-year-old says the team has really turned itself around since being demoted a couple of seasons ago and this has largely been due to the mix of young and old now in the squad. “To me, the majority of the squad has matured and there is a good blend there. It has just gone well.

“Our target at the start of the season was, possibly, just to stay up but I knew myself with the experience and youth coming through the club we could go on and challenge. The players are quite a committed bunch of lads to be giving up their time on a Tuesday and Thursday night and giving up their weekends to play. I just knew we had something in us to go again this season.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.