Gaelic Games

Naas and Callaghan fully focused on becoming Leinster champions

‘I think people couldn’t really understand how Naas had just one title in so many years’

Naas’ Eamonn Callaghan in the Leinster Club Championship quarter-final against Blessington at St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, Kildare. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Paul Keane
Sat Jan 8 2022 - 06:00

A couple of years ago, when he was still playing with Kildare and in his mid-30s, Eamonn Callaghan started to study Mayo’s Andy Moran closely. He figured that if Moran, playing in a similar creative role, could win the Footballer of the Year award at 34, then it would be foolish not to investigate.

Callaghan “tweaked” parts of his own game as a result to mirror some of what Moran was doing, and admitted that even now, at 39 years of age, he is still inquiring and exploring, constantly trying to improve his own game.

Kildare benefited from that studious approach for 17 seasons until their former captain eventually retired from intercounty duty in 2018 and he is still going strong for his club.

Callaghan kicked a couple of sumptuous points from play in the Leinster semi-final win over Shelmaliers before Christmas, one off his right, one off his left, and converted two stoppage-time frees to send that game to extra time.

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“My uncle would have played hurling for Limerick and he would have played well into his 30s as well,” said Callaghan, citing “good genetics” within his family tree for his longevity and referencing the 1984 All-Star.

There is an element of fortune involved with avoiding serious injuries for so long too, but for the most part Callaghan has created his own luck. “I’d have the odd takeaway and drink the odd can of Coke Zero here and there,” he acknowledged, laying bare the worst of his excesses.

Captain credentials

Former Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney, a like mind, identified Callaghan’s captain credentials though not before summoning the then 27-year-old to his apartment in Dublin and handing him a five-page list of things to improve on. Callaghan didn’t see that one coming but took the intervention in the spirit it was meant and set about implementing the changes McGeeney requested.

When Naas lost their manager last October – the highly rated Paul Kelly departed the group after an apparent row shortly before their county semi-final against Maynooth –– it was no great surprise that Callaghan stepped into the breach to join Eoin Doyle in an interim management setup. He was already the team captain.

Still, he was out of his comfort zone and no one was too sure how it was all going to pan out. The most likely outcome was that their 31-year wait for a Kildare senior title would go on. It turned out that a little chaos suited Naas just fine and here they are now, an hour from being crowned Leinster champions at Croke Park.

The club’s hurlers – James Burke and Brian Byrne play on both teams – are also through to next weekend’s provincial intermediate final.

Truth be told, the footballers should not have gone so long without winning a Kildare senior title.

“I think people couldn’t really understand how Naas had just one title in so many years,” said Callaghan, who hails from a town of over 20,000. “It’s a fair argument when you look at the numbers we have, the club numbers and the membership and that.

“In the early 2000s we moved ground and I think the underage kind of really kicked off then in the club. We’ve kind of built on it since then, but, yeah, in terms of population having one county championship in 30 years was not great.”

County final

One of Mick O’Dwyer’s first tasks as Kildare manager after being appointed in late 1990 was to attend that year’s county final. Naas beat Clane and O’Dwyer added to his panel one of the match-winners from that day, Johnny McDonald, an idol growing up to Callaghan. Kildare’s latest manager, Glenn Ryan, will take charge of his first game today (Saturday) in the O’Byrne Cup, just as Naas are preparing to play in the provincial final.

“Micko was unveiled basically at that 1990 county final so there’s a nice bit of symmetry there maybe,” smiled Callaghan. “Hopefully it’s some sort of an omen that Glenn can bring the same kind of thing to Kildare that Mick O’Dwyer brought.”

Callaghan isn’t the future of Kildare but forward colleague Darragh Kirwan, a terrific talent and a goalscorer against Shelmaliers, could be. Naas have others with county aspirations and Ryan will be looking in.

“We just hope that we can go up and put on a performance,” said Callaghan, eyeing a famous win.

Stranger things have happened, as they’ll tell you in Mullinalaghta.

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