Martin Naughton (born 1964) is a former

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

sportsperson. He played senior

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

with his local club

Turloughmore Turloughmore ( ; ) is a village in County Galway, Ireland. The name means "the large lake," a notable feature of the area, together with the Clare River (''Abhainn an Chláir''). Turloughmore lies on the N63 national secondary road A nationa ...

and with the

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

senior inter-county team in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Martin Naughton was born in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

in 1964. He was educated locally at Cregmore national school where he was first introduced to the game of

. Naughton later attended the Presentation College in

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtu ...

where he won a county school's medal. He later worked in the marketing department of a local oil company.

Playing career

Club

Naughton played his club hurling with his local

club and enjoyed much success. He won a county minor title in the early 1980s before later joining the county senior side. Naughton won his sole senior county title in 1985. This was later converted into a

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

club title.

Inter-county

Naughton played for

at both minor and under-21 levels, however, he had little success. He joined the county senior side in 1986 as Galway faced

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in a second consecutive All-Ireland final appearance. In spite of Galway being the red-hot favourites, Naughton faced defeat as victory went to the Leesiders on that occasion. In 1987 Naughton won a

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

medal before making another All-Ireland final appearance. That year the men from the West defeated

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

giving Naughton an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal. 1988 saw Galway win a second All-Ireland final, this time with a defeat of

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

, giving Naughton a second All-Ireland medal. He added a second National League medal to his collection in 1989, however, a cruciate knee injury forced Naughton to retire from inter-county hurling in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naughton, Martin 1964 births Living people Galway inter-county hurlers Turloughmore hurlers