By John McIlwaine
I was scanning old photos at the weekend of Anthony Tohill’s visit to Magherahoney Hall with the Sam Magurie Cup back in 1993 when I came across this pic of a baby sitting in the famous trophy, standard practice on a night like that. At the time I took the photo I would have taken the names for the paper, but they are long gone, but I thought the young lad in the cup looked familiar, and when I then saw his grandmother Mary McNaughton in one of the other pics it strengthened my suspicion that it was Nicholas McNaughton. I messaged the photo to the McNaughton family and my suspicions were confirmed.
Of course Nicholas McNaughton is now Dr Nicholas McNaughton who is one of the many great people who are leading the fight against the dreaded Covid 19 virus which has brought the whole world to a virtual standstill. Nicholas, who plays his hurling with Loughgiel Shamrocks, studied Medicine at Queens University, Belfast and qualified just two years ago. Since that time he has worked in the Royal Victoria, the Mater, and the Causeway Hospitals before moving to Antrim Area Hospital where is one of a dedicated team of doctors and nurses in the ICU Unit, in the very front line of the fight against this deadly virus.
Nicholas McNaughton comes for a great hurling family. His grandmother Mary McNaughton (nee McGarry) who took him along that cold winter night to Magherahoney Hall, won an All Ireland Senior Camogie medal with Antrim in 1947 as an eighteen year old. His grandfather John was on the Loughgiel team who on the 1956 Antrim Senior Championship.
His father Seamus ‘Crow’ McNaughton played on the Loughgiel team who beat St Rynagh’s of Offaly in the 1983 All Ireland Club final replay at Casement Park to become the first Antrim team to take the Tommy Moore Cup, and his brother James is a member of the current Antrim team who had qualified for the Division 2 National League final when Covid 19 stepped in and brought the campaign to a premature halt.
His older sister Una played camogie with both club and county and was the captain of the last Loughgiel team to win an Ulster Club title when they beat Slaughtneil in the 2015 final in Armagh. Una is currently in lock-down in Melbourne, Australia after immigrating to Oz a couple of years ago. His other sister Rioghnach has also won championship medals with the Shamrocks.
Sister Lucia is a member of the current Antrim senior camogie team who also were in with a good chance of promotion under the new management team of Paul McKillen and Jingo McKernan when the National Camogie League were halted. Lucia is also is also in the frontline in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic as she is Repertory Physiotherapist at Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.
