NEARLY EVERYONE IN Irish rugby agrees that it would be brilliant to consistently have a Connacht club in the top tiers of the All-Ireland League.

As things stand, there aren’t any Connacht clubs in Division 1A or 1B but Galway Corinthians RFC have plans to change that as soon as possible.

They lead Division 2A coming into this weekend’s fifth round of the campaign, with a huge clash at home to Instonians ahead on Saturday. Like Corinthians and Cashel, Instonians have started the season with four bonus-point wins from four. An impressive points difference of +109 means Corinthians are the table toppers.

This time last year, Corinthians and Instonians were both playing in Division 2B but they have kept their momentum rolling after promotion.

A visit to Corinthian Park in Cloonacauneen just outside Galway for last weekend’s win over Old Crescent gave a taste of the energy within the club. These are exciting times for Corinthians, with their strikingly young team playing thrilling attacking rugby in the AIL.

“The club is in a really healthy place overall,” says Michael Harding, the director of rugby and First team head coach in Corinthians.

Harding’s team is packed with young players who are also making a name for themselves with Connacht.

Tighthead prop Fiachna Barrett, loosehead prop Billy Bohan, flanker Max Flynn, scrum-half Tomás Farthing, out-half Seán Naughton, centre John Devine – who was Division 2B player of the year last season – and wing James Nicholson are all part of Connacht’s academy and have shone for Ireland’s underage sides.

Matthew Devine, John’s older brother, is a prime example of how Corinthians have helped players to push on. Scrum-half Devine was superb for the AIL club for a few years before getting his chance with Connacht.

Corinthians also have a handful of Connacht sub-academy players, as well as another crop of youngsters who have risen through the club’s youths system to become AIL players at the ages of 18, 19, or 20.

Captain and number eight Mark Boyle, younger brother of Connacht’s Paul, is one of the additions from further afield and he’s now captain at the age of 23. He leads a team who play entertaining rugby.

“I think it’s hugely important that you’re playing a style of rugby that excites players,” says Harding, who took over from JP Cooney in 2022.

“We’ve had young teams over the past few years. We don’t have massive, massive men. We have a 6ft 10ins guy like Bryan Walsh in the second row but he’s only 19, he did his Leaving Cert last year.

“You’re talking about 14 or 15 players who are U20s in your matchday squad. Our maul and maul defence is good but we can’t just go and try to beat teams up front. You have to the style of your rugby to the players you have.”

The same summer that Harding joined, there was a major turnover in Corinthians’ squad, with around 15 players retiring or going travelling and taking over 700 AIL caps of experience with them.

So it was helpful that Corinthians’ youth structures are in excellent condition. The club has around 160 senior men’s players across their First, Second, Third, and U20 teams. In fact, such is the demand at U20s, Corinthians field A and B teams, both of whom play in Leinster’s JP Fanagan U20 competition.

At a time when plenty of Irish clubs have lost U20s sides altogether, it’s remarkable.

There are over 200 minis players in Corinthians, as well as around 250 youths boys spread across U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, and U18 sides. All those age grades have two teams aside from U15s, with the U16s potentially having three this season. In Connacht, youngsters can play schools and club rugby throughout the pathway.

There are 62 youths girls across the U14, U16, and U18 sides, as well as a senior women’s team.

The Corinthians Raptors mixed ability tag team has been another big success, with players of all ages, both male and female, coming to the club to play rugby every weekend.

All in all, Corinthians has more than 800 paid-up club members.

“Rob Dolan is head of our youths and has done an unbelievable job over the years,” says Harding. “We have a crazy amount of senior players who coach in the youths teams and we have really strong managers and coaches in all of those teams.”

Harding – who was named Connacht Rugby coach of the year for 2023/24 – points out that their catchment area is big and when he joined, he “knew the club was ready to explode.”

Corinthians have put a big emphasis on social media, posting match updates, highlights, team news, and player of the match announcements across its platforms. Harding believes it has helped to attract new players.

Galway having a big university helps too, a crop of talented young rugby players generally arriving into the city each season. Harding stays in touch with school coaches around the country, looking to get early tip-offs about any talented players en route to Galway.

Corinthians make a big effort to use their local connections to help players find a place to live, something that goes a long way with parents.

The Corinthians U14s celebrate cup success last season. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Harding also explains how club legends like Dave Madden and John ‘Stack’ Noone are key to the whole operation, organising car pools to get everyone to training and generally helping in any way they can.

“One of our players, Blaine Barry, tore his hamstring in the first 20s game last year and for two weeks, John drove to his house every morning, picked him up and drove him to college because Blaine was on crutches. That’s one of a million stories like it.

“There are loads of John ‘Stack’ Noones in the club who do stuff like that. They’re doing it for the love of the club. Every club has these stalwart volunteers and we’re blessed with people like that in Corinthians.”

Also key in retaining players and attracting new ones is the professionalism of the Corinthians set-up.

The club spent €12,000 on a gym, they have a physio and S&C coaches, while the video analysis is highly detailed. This is one of Harding’s area of expertise.

36-year-old Harding hails from Tipperary and played for Nenagh but had major injury travails and admits he “wasn’t much of a rugby player.”

Having moved to Portumna RFC to play junior rugby, he asked if he could give coaching a go and it went well. He took over the following season and helped them to win their local league before joining Buccanneers as an assistant coach.

He had three years coaching in Cistercian College Roscrea, worked with Creggs RFC, then spent two years as Cooney’s assistant in Corinthians before stepping up as the boss. Harding was also running his own analysis company called PPA Sports, coding games for up to 13 hurling clubs. He had to stop that last summer, but the skills are important in his current role, while he was also an analyst for the Ireland Club XV last season.

Corinthians video all Firsts, Seconds, and U20s A and B games for analysis, with every player getting statistics around their positive and negative carries, tackles, rucks, and more. They can log onto the Hudl platform online, click their name, and instantly see everything they’ve done in a game in each category.

The Firsts and U20s also do collective video review sessions, while the Seconds get voiced-over video breakdowns. Corinthians’ last AIL game was recorded from four different angles to allow greater depth in their analysis. They recorded their hookers throwing in training from different angles, then provided them with a video masterclass from former Connacht hooker Shane Delahunt.

So for players who want that detail and depth, it’s there in bucketloads. Still, Harding says Corinthians want to cater for everyone.

“Players feel like it’s a professional environment and that matters,” he says, “but this is still a hobby.

“I want Corinthians to be a place people get away from work, the books, family or whatever it is. This is somewhere you can escape. I want it to be a place you look forward to going, that the changing room is somewhere you love being. If that’s the case, you’ll tell your friends.”

JJ Hanrahan is coaching with the Galway club. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

A new addition to the coaching staff this season has been Connacht out-half JJ Hanrahan, who they convinced to come on board as backs coach while he’s recovering from the ACL injury he suffered last season.

Forwards and defence coach Pat Cunningham is highly regarded and Hanrahan has been a great addition as he builds on the strong work of his predecessor, Simon Gillespie.

“JJ is exceptional,” says Harding. “He’s a workhorse, the amount of time he spends on feedback, watching games, the amount of detail he brings.

“His coaching on the pitch is really good and he’s growing into it, getting more authority. He has blown us away.”

Harding says his relationship with Connacht academy manager Eric Elwood is very strong. It helps that Harding became the Connacht U19s head coach this year, as well as coaching at Provincial Talent Squad sessions with Elwood.

Corinthians and other clubs get a weekly email letting them know which players will be available for AIL action, while there is good communication around injury concerns, and Elwood is always happy to take a call.

There’s no limit on how many Connacht academy players Corinthians can field in the AIL, although clubs are only allowed two development-contracted players in their matchday squad. Any players who move above development status can’t play outside Division 1A and 1B.

Having lots of players in the academy and sub-academy is a good thing for Corinthians, who want to help push them into the pro game, but it comes with challenges.

“It’s a fine balancing act between having the right amount and too many,” says Harding.

“Say for our game against Cashel next month, we’ll be missing lots of guys with the Connacht Eagles playing at that stage and then we need more guys in the club to step up, which hurts your 20s and your Seconds, then two weeks later the Connacht guys are back in and the others are pushed down again.”

The depth of playing numbers is clearly important for Corinthians, whose Firsts, Seconds, and U20s train together every Tuesday and Thursday so everyone is on the same page.

Harding stresses how difficult the competition is in 2A. They face promotion contenders Instonians, Barnhall, and Cashel in their next three games so a tough run awaits. 

Corinthians know it would take something special to get promoted again straight after coming up into 2A but they’re determined to continue their rise.

“I think there is something really, really special building here,” says Harding.

“There’s a great story still to be told.”