Naughton’s on border patrol
His home in Newtownshandrum skirts the Cork/Limerick border and offers him an intimate knowledge of club players around the south Limerick area.
Clubs like Bruree, Kildimo and Monagea which supply members of tomorrow’s Limerick starting 15 are not alien to him.
In addition Naughton must brace himself for the odd scenario of facing Newtownshandrum clubmate and Limerick native Shaun O’Riordan.
Last September the pair was teammates as Newtownshandrum hammered Sarsfields in the Cork county decider in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but they return to that same venue tomorrow on opposite sides with the number eight stitched onto Naughton’s Cork jersey and the number five emblazoned on the back of O’Riordan’s Limerick jersey.
Naughton said: “I’d know a lot of the Limerick lads from going to club matches and watching them play.
“Being from the area you’d definitely know them, you’d have seen them play once or twice before growing up.
“That does help as you’d know few of them on and off the field. There are some good young players there and they’re going to be unbelievably up for it.
“They’ve worked just as hard as we do and they’ve been training all winter as well, putting in the same effort.
“On any given day, a 15 can beat any other 15. You can see it there in the World Cup at the moment, a lot of the big teams aren’t winning games and there are a lot of draws.”
The off-field crisis this winter has crippled Limerick hurling and put a strain on their personnel resources for the season ahead.
But Naughton dismisses the idle chat about tomorrow’s game being a mere exercise in target practice for Cork.
“It’s the semi-final of Munster so it’s going to be a tough game. We’re looking at it like every other championship game. You prepare yourself for it and get ready for the battle ahead. Limerick are going to be coming down here and will be well up for the battle ahead. It’ll be like every other championship game, full of intensity and full of battles.”
Naughton is relishing the tie as he seeks to consolidate his starting place in the Cork lineup.
Last season was a frustrating one as his playing time was restricted and he flitted in and out of the side. There remained the sense that an unpredictable talent like his needed to be accommodated in the Cork team from the off and those suspicions were confirmed by the starring role he played throughout last autumn and winter in steering Newtownshandrum to county and provincial titles.
Their All-Ireland championship ambitions ground to a halt against Ballyhale Shamrocks in February at the semi-final juncture but even after that long slog, Naughton remained eager for intercounty action once more.
“We missed a few scoring chances against Ballyhale and it was tough then to see them go on and win it. It definitely hurt us as we’d have liked to have won it.
“It would have been unbelievable for us to go on, but you don’t really get time to reflect. It’s one or two weeks off and then you’re straight back into it. But it was nice to get back into it.
“Denis Walsh gave us two or three weeks off, after that then we’d a few league matches and we’d a few wins. Straight away then there were big games in the league against Tipperary and Kilkenny, you got back into it straightaway.”
Two weeks ago Naughton suffered a setback with Newtownshandrum when they were undone by Erin’s Own in the first round of the Cork SHC and a backdoor clash with Blarney is set for Sunday week.
But the focus for now is on Cork and after all the strife of recent seasons, Naughton is pleased to report on their progress to date.
“Things are going well now, it’s been a great year. Everyone is training hard and everyone went back early which was important. The big difference is a lot of the lads are working harder on and off the field. People are doing a lot on their own and you’d notice that.
“Everyone at training is really pushing everyone on. There’s a good buzz and I suppose that’s exactly what you need.”
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