Oscar night at Navan RFC as key roles are filled
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Cillian Farrell won the men’s J1 Team Player of the Year award and at at the presentation were (from left) coach Owen Hanratty, Navan President Ray Hannon, Cillian Farrell and Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 2 of 18
Ray Hannon (left) and Damien Dixon presented Thomas Geraghty (centre) with the Mens J3 Team Player of the Year award.Image 3 of 18
Navan’s Club President Ray Hannon (left) presented the u-18 Boys Player of the Year award to Oisin Heffernan. Also included are Deputy-President Damien Dixon and Gerry Sweeney (Navan boys u-18 mentor).Image 4 of 18
At the Navan awards night were (from left) Club President Ray Hannon, Ben McEntagart (who won the Senior Men’s Team Player of the Year award), Jack Nelson (a member of the senior men’s squad) and Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 5 of 18
Club President Ray Hannon presented the u-18 Girl’s Team Player of the Year to Louise Crinion.Image 6 of 18
The senior men’s Player of the Year (Pete Hogan) award was presented to Conor Farrell (second from right) by Mick Ryan (left). Also included are David Clarke, Ray Hannon, Karl Hogan and Damien Dixon.Image 7 of 18
The u-18 Girls (Hannah O’Dea Award) winner was Rosie Searle. She is seen here with friends and family with Ray Hannon and Damien Dixon also making up the support cast.Image 8 of 18
The winner of Navan RFC’s J1 Most Improved Player of the Year award was Darragh McHugh with Ray Hannon and Damien Dixon.Image 9 of 18
The winner of the Club Youths Player of the Year award was Emma Brogan. At the presentation were (from left) Ray Hannon, John Molloy (Navan u-18 Girls Coaching Group), Emma Brogan and Navan RFC Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 10 of 18
Navan RFC Club President Ray Hannon (left) with Senior Men’s Team Young Player of the Year Rory Gordon and Navan RFC Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 11 of 18
The u-18 Boys Most Improved Player of the Year award was presented to Cillian Sweeney by Navan RFC Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 12 of 18
The Men’s J4 Most Improved Player of the Year was Ronan Giles pictured here with Club President Ray Hannon and Deputy-President Damien Dixion.Image 13 of 18
The Men’s J3 Most Improved Player of the Year was Ronan Walsh and he received his memento from Ray Hannon and Damien Dixon.Image 14 of 18
The Senior Women’s Most Improved Player of the Year was Roisin Watters who received her award from Navan RFC Club President Ray Hannon and Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 15 of 18
Navan RFC Club President Ray Hannon presented the Senior Women’s Team Player of the Year to Anita Lennon while also included are Ciara Kennedy (Navan RFC Senior Women’s captain) and Navan RFC Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 16 of 18
Navan RFC Club President Ray Hannon presented the Club Person of the Year accolade to Brenden McGoona with Deputy-President Damien Dixon and Eddie Lyons (Navan RFC chairman) also in attendance.Image 17 of 18
The u-18 Girls Most Improved Player of the Year award was presented to Anna Marchant by Navan RFC Deputy-President Damien Dixon.Image 18 of 18
Jackie Shiels (left) with Marie Louise Reilly after an Ireland v Wales Six Nations game at Ashbourne in 2014. Shiels is now coaching the women’s senior team at Navan RFC where Reilly also played for a time. David MullenThe Navan Rugby Football Club Dinner Dance was hosted in the Ardboyne hotel recently where a large turnout of members and friends gathered to celebrate the season just gone with what was described by dedicated club PRO Craig Williamson "as a great night of celebration and dancing."
A wide variety of players at adult and under-age levels were recognised and honoured for their commitment and dedication to their respective teams with the Senior Women's Team of the Year award won by Anita Lennon while Ben McEntagart claimed the Senior Men's Player of the Year accolade.
The awards were presented by club President Ray Hannon and Deputy-President Damien Dixon. The club also expressed their thanks to Sinead Hannon and Nour Khairy who alongside Hannon were closely involved in organising the well-attended awards night.
The presentation of the awards was among the last duties performed by Ray Hannon in his role as President of Navan RFC. He stepped down at the club's AGM on Thursday evening and was replaced by Deputy President Damien Dixon, who comes from a family steeped in Meath's sporting tradition.
His father was the great Paddy 'Stonewall' Dixon who played a pivotal role in helping Meath win the Sam Maguire for the first time in 1949. Damien's son Evan Dixon has been a regular member of the Navan first team for a few seasons now.
Also during the week Navan RFC made two key appointments as they look ahead to next season with former international Jackie Shiels taking over as head coach of the women's team while Jason Harris-Wright will take over as head coach of the men's senior team.
Shiels, who is from Navan and teaches in the nearby Loreto school, won 28 caps for Ireland in senior international rugby level between 2008 and 2016. She was part of the Irish squads for the Rugby World Cup in 2010 and 2014 and helped the Girls in Green to the semi-finals in France in that latter competition. She was also part of the Irish squad that won the Six Nations in 2015.
In Gaelic football Shiels won two SFC titles with Simonstown Gaels and played from the ages of 14 to 21 on the Meath senior team. She also represented Ireland in soccer at u-16 and u-18 levels. Jackie Shiels works as a teacher in Loreto, Navan and more recently played club rugby for Blackrock College, helping them to a league title.
As Craig Williamson outlined Harris-Wright has been involved previously as an assistant coach handling the forwards and the breakdown, for both Castleknock College’s Senior Cup team and Navan senior men’s for the last two seasons.
"Prior to that Harris-Wright enjoyed a professional playing career that began in the Leinster Rugby Academy in 2009 moving up to a full contract in 2010/2011 where he would make 17 appearances for Leinster (including appearances in Europe against Racing 92 (twice), Saracens and coming on as a substitute for Leinster’s famous 2011 Heineken Cup final comeback win over Northampton Saints in Cardiff)," the PRO added.
"The rest of the playing journey included stops at Bristol (2011-2012), Connacht (2012-2016), London Irish (2016-2017) and Bristol again (2017-2018) before transitioning from playing to coaching when a year with the Houston SabreCats to play in Major League Rugby turned into coaching for the season in the United States."
At the 94th AGM on Thursday night at Balreask Old Director of Rugby Niall Hennessy reflected on the performance of all senior adult teams of the course of the season. Among the highlights was the achievement of being able to consistenly field four adult men's teams across national and provincial competitions while the club's women's team consolidated after gaining promotion the previous season. Hennessy added that the structures put in place this past season will better enable young players to transition from youths to adult level. The hope is that a second women's team can be fielded for the first time.
The officers elected at the AGM included: President - Damien Dixon; Chairman - Brendan Farrell; Deputy-President - Scott Ennis; Hon Secretary - Paul McEvoy; Hon Treasurer - Kieran Walsh; Director of Rugby - John Duffy; Marketing - John Coen; Youths Co-ordinator - Jane McSherry; Premises & Grounds - David Cullivan; Bar - Ray Hannon; Social - Barry Keeley; Senior Men's Captain - Sean McEntagart.