Terence McNaughton

Terence 'Sambo' McNaughton (born 1964 in Cushendall, County Antrim) was an Irish hurling manager and former player. He played hurling with his local club Ruarí Óg and with the Antrim senior inter-county team from 1980 until 1997.

Playing career

Club

McNaughton played his club hurling with his local Ruarí Óg club in Cushendall and enjoyed much success. He won his first senior county title with the club in 1981. This was later converted into an Ulster club title. Four years later in 1985 McNaughton added a second county title to his collection before later winning a second Ulster club medal. He won a third set of county and provincial medals in 1987. The early 1990s saw McNaughton win three county medals in-a-row between 1991 and 1993. The first two county victories were later converted into Ulster titles once again. He finished off his club career by winning further county and Ulster medals in 1996 and 1999.

Inter-county

McNaughton first came to prominence on the inter-county scene with Antrim in the late 1970s. He played for the county minor team, however, he enjoyed little success as Antrim played in the Leinster Championship during this period. McNaughton later won several Ulster titles with the Antrim under-21 team.

McNaughton made his debut with the Antrim senior hurling team in 1980. The following year he enjoyed his first major success when he won an All-Ireland 'B' title as Antrim defeated London in the championship decider. McNaughton won a second consecutive All-Ireland 'B' title in 1982 as London were narrowly defeated once again.

In 1989 the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was revived after a forty-year absence. That year Antrim reached the final where Down provided the opposition. A 2-16 to 0-9 victory gave McNaughton his first senior Ulster title. Antrim later defeated Kildare in the All-Ireland quarter-final before lining out against Offaly in the penultimate game of the championship in Croke Park. Offaly were the red hot favourites going into the game, however, McNaughton's side had other ideas. Antrim shocked their opponents and won the game by 4-15 to 1-15. Offaly, in spite of losing, recognised the historic nature of the victory and gave Antrim a guard of honour as the team left the field. The All-Ireland final saw Antrim take on Tipperray for the first time since 1949. Antrim, however, were unable to repeat the heroics of the semi-final and lost to Tipp by 4-24 to 3-9.

In 1990 McNaughton added a second Ulster title to his collection following another defeat of Down. The subsequent All-Ireland semi-final saw ANtrim take on Cork, however, victory went to 'the Rebels' on that occasion by 2-20 to 1-13.

Antrim made it three-in-a-row in Ulster in 1991 with McNaughton collecting his third provincial medal. Westmeath fell in the subsequent All-Ireland quarter-final, setting up a semi-final meeting with Kilkenny. With seconds left in the game McNaughton's side were up by one point, however, a last-gasp goal gave Kilkenny a 2-18 to 1-19 victory. In spite of this defeat McNaughton was later presented with a coveted All-Star award.

Antrim lost their provincial crown in 1992, however, McNaughton collected a fourth Ulster title in 1993. Antrim later defeated Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final setting up a semi-final meeting with Kilkenny once again. Antrim, however, were not the force they were and they lost the game by 4-18 to 1-9.

McNaughton added a fifth Ulster title to his collection in 1994 following a defeat of Down in the sixth successive meeting between these two sides in the final. However, Antrim were later trounced by Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Antrim lost their provincial crown in 1995, however, McNaughton won a sixth Ulster medal in 1996 as Down were defeated once again. In an expanded All-Ireland series Antrim later took on London for the second time in three years. The game was a much closer affair that the previous encounter, however, Limerick still claimed the victory.

1997 saw Antrim lose their Ulster title to their greta rivals from Down. McNaughton retired from inter-county hurling in the autumn of that year.

Managerial career

In retirement from playing McNaughton became involved in the coaching side of hurling. In late 2004 he took charge of the Antrim minor hurling team along with his former playing colleague Dominic McKinley. Before he took up that appointment McNaughton also took charge of a combined Ulster hurling team for Fitzgibbon Cup inter-university competition. In 2005 Antrim won the Ulster minor title, hwever, the team was later defeated in the All-Ireland series. In 2006 both McNaughton and McKinley were appointed co-managers of the Antrim under-21 team while also retaining their positions as co-managers of the minor team. That year both Antrim teams won their respective Ulster titles, however, both the minor and under-21 teams were later defeated in the All-Ireland series. He also went on to make hurls under the name McNaughton hurleys.

Antrim

In late 2006 both McNaughton and McKinley were appointed joint-managers of the Antrim senior hurling team.^[1] They also retained their positions as joint-managers of the under-21 team.

McNaughton and McKinley's opening season as managers got off to a good start as Antrim beat London,^[2] and then trounced Down by 2-24 to 0-4 to win the Ulster final.^[3] Antrim then went on to play in group 1A of the qualifiers, with matches against Galway, Clare and Laois. The managed a single victory over Laois,^[4] leaving them third in the group and unable to proceed any further.

McNaughton's 2008 season started promisingly with Antrim winning the Walsh Cup for the first time.^[5] This campaign included beating the 2007 (and subsequently 2008) All-Ireland Champions, Kilkenny.^[6] Later in the year, the nine counties of Ulster, along with London, participated in the Ulster championship. A system of seeding designed to reduce the number of one-sided matches left Antrim's first game a semi final against Derry, which they won 2-17 to 1-12.^[7] The provincial final saw Antrim take on Down once again with victory going to Antrim.^[8] McNaughton and McKinley's team got little reward for this provincial victory due to the introduction of a new format for the All-Ireland championship. This meant that Antrim were forced to play Galway in phase one of the qualifiers. Antrim were trounced by 'the Tribesmen' by 6-21 to 1-10.^[9] Phase two of the qualifiers saw Antrim take on Waterford, however, a 6-18 to 0-15 defeat^[10] saw Antrim's championship campaign come to an end. Antrim then had to play a relegation play-off against Laois, to ensure that they remained eligible to compete in the All-Ireland series in 2009. They duly won that match 2-18 to 0-16.^[11]

Antrim's 2009 campaign marked the first time the county was admitted to the Leinster Championship. They were knocked out at the quarter final stage by Dublin.^[12] They also competed in the Ulster Championship, where they beat Down in the final on a scoreline of 3-20 to 4-15.^[13] In spite of this, they still proceeded to the qualifiers. In phase one of the qualifiers, Antrim were beaten by Laois,^[14] to put them into the relegation playoffs, where they were beaten by Offaly.^[15] Antrim were then due to play Wexford to decide which side was to be relegated to the Christy Ring Cup for 2010. However, McNaughton and the managers of the other teams involved in the play-offs appealed to the GAA's Disputes Resolution Authority,^[16] who took the decision to postpone the relegation final until a future date.^[17] The Director General of the GAA has suggested that the relegation final will be played, but that no team would end up being relegated and that a decision would be made on the issue in early October 2009.^[18]

McNaughton stepped down as manager of the Antrim Senior hurling team in August 2009.^[19]

References

• Corry, Eoghan, The GAA Book of Lists (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
• Donegan, Des, The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games (DBA Publications, 2005).

External links

• Antrim GAA honours

Teams