‘No One’s Guaranteed A Jersey’ – Canty On Galwegians’ Resurgent #EnergiaAIL Form

There are moments in every rugby player’s story when the game is taken away from them, sometimes in the blink of an eye. For Dearbhla Canty, that moment came in the summer of 2024, ahead of what should have been another season of steady progress with Galwegians.

For most players, injury is a cruel interruption, for some it becomes a turning point. An ACL tear has a way of changing things.

It tests not just strength, but identity. Who you are when the jersey is taken away, when training nights turn into physio appointments, and when match days mean watching others live the game you love.

For Canty, a Listowel native who began her rugby journey as a seven-year-old at Listowel RFC through to earning Munster underage honours and Connacht caps, the thought of being separated from the game was almost unthinkable.

She made the move to Galway for college and joined NUIG, later stepping up in the blue of Galwegians in 2019 to play Energia All-Ireland League rugby.

From there, she built a reputation as a tough and composed prop forward who brought the same relentlessness to training as she did to matches. But last year, in a split second, everything stopped.

“It was June 2024 when I did my ACL, August time surgery,” she told IrishRugby.ie. “I had my first game back during this year’s Interpros.

“I was playing in the warm-up game, so that was July time. I was back to full contact this year, so just over a year to get back.”

Those who have gone through it know that a year of recovery does not just mean a year without playing. It means a year without the heartbeat of the sport, no dressing room noise, no collective build-up, no shared exhaustion that only team-mates understand.

For any player, that is a long road. For a player like Canty, who had grown into a central figure in the Galwegians set-up, it demanded a reimagining of her place in the team.

While her team-mates ran out onto the field each week, she was learning to support from the other side of the touchline having taken on the role of team manager.

“At the very start, it was really challenging emotionally,” she admitted. “Because obviously you just want to go out there and play with everyone.

“I’ve been with ‘Wegians now for the last five, six years. Last year with the new coaching ticket (led by Jack Clarke) and a lot of girls transferring over, I really just wanted to play.

“It probably took me a couple of games to kind of wind down and control that emotion that I can’t be there (on the pitch). Which I suppose I channelled into my rehab, and my rehab went so well in fairness.

“There were no hiccups or anything like that, flew through it, really enjoyed it actually. Doing this rehab hopefully would make me a better player now this year.

“It was good luck to get that experience in management and stuff like that. But I think I’d like being the player instead!”.

It is that mix of humour and drive that defines Canty, a player who has known setbacks but never lost perspective. In many ways, her story runs parallel to that of Galwegians themselves.

A proud club with a deep tradition in Women’s rugby, they hve spent recent seasons rebuilding, re-establishing, rediscovering who they are in the changing landscape of the game.

This year, the signs of that resurgence are everywhere. That consistency is now showing on the field. Four games into the season, Galwegians are four from four, beating Ballincollig, Wicklow, Tullow, and Cooke, and sit at the top of the Women’s Division table.

Now a chance presents itself to stretch that run to five on Saturday afternoon when they meet Ennis on home soil. For a side that struggled for consistency last season, winning just five of their 18 league games, the turnaround has been remarkable.

The Blue Belles are back to where they want to be, and Canty is back where she belongs, saying: “We have a great management team now this year – Jack Clarke (pictured above) as our head coach, and he’s brought in Ben Clarke, his son.

“We have David Derham, Tony Kelly, and Oisin Cafferkey, Chloe McCrann our admin manager, and we have Christine Conceiacao as well as another manager. We have a stacked management team.

“So we’re in good hands compared to last year, which was kind of more in a rush trying to get a management team and stuff like that. We didn’t get Jack on board until maybe June of last year and the season starts then again in August.

“So it was just kind of a bit of a rush last year. But this year now, we’re a bit more consistent and stuff like that, and we were able to put plans in place for the year coming.”

Consistency has been the difference. Last season was one of transition, new players, new management systems, key injuries, and lessons learned the hard way. It is something Canty remembers clearly.

“Last year was just more kind of a development year, with players as well, because there was a lot of changeover in players,” explained the 26-year-old, who works as an EHS Administrator with ALS Geochemistry in Loughrea.

“Some of our key senior players were gone. We had some good results last year, but not really consistent. In a development year, new players, new coaching system, all that type of stuff. We had a good few injuries as well last year in key positions, like front row and out-half.

“This year now we have a load of cover in the front row and at out-half. The majority of players last year, it was their first season playing in the All-Ireland League.

“They were just coming up from junior teams and never played in the higher level leagues. They did very well last year, but it’s really good now that the majority of players have at least one year under their belt playing in the AIL.”

There is a candour to the way Canty talks about those early struggles. Not bitterness, just a recognition of what it takes to climb back up the ladder.

Heavy defeats were part of it too, lessons learned against the best in the country. Every rebuilding team endures tough afternoons, and Galwegians had a number of them last year.

It is the kind of turnaround that does not just happen. It is built, slowly, week by week, by players who stay when things are tough. It is a patient kind of belief, the type that does not come from short-term success but from putting in the work when the scoreboard does not flatter you.

“Trying to look at a player’s perspective on it as well because it’s hard going out there getting beaten with big scorelines, which was kind of happening kind of mid-season. I know we played against Railway last year, I think the score was 56-0 or something like that.

“So we were kind of getting hit hard with those types of games. But again, just trying to remind the girls this is a developing year.

“We all had to kind of look at each other going, ‘Look how many new people are here. Look at the new coaching systems where we’re trying to learn a new system. So, please just buy into it and it will take time to reap the rewards of it’.

You can see now we’ve won four from four and (had some) great scorelines. A lot of the girls last year are still with us this year. At least they can see the difference and not just buy into systems and buy into what the coaches are trying to get us to do as well.

“The older girls as well, just to keep with them. Towards the end of last season as well with injuries and stuff like that, there was just a lot of chopping and changing between players.

“We didn’t have a consistent team out each week. I think that’s where we really struggled. But now we have 40-50 girls registered with us and we have at least 30-odd at training. It’s just really good training sessions.

“At least we have two teams against each other and we’re fighting for positions. No one’s guaranteed a jersey every week. Everyone after training, we all just have to step up, which is good.”

That competition for places has lifted the whole environment, and restored something that had been missing for a while – confidence.

“We had meetings before we started this year between the players and management, and we all agreed we didn’t show consistency and we didn’t show what we could actually do last year,” she insisted.

“We lost to the likes of Cooke and Ballincollig towards the end of the season, which we should have targeted. Towards the end of the season, it was just a long season with lots of injuries and stuff like that.

“Girls were playing every week, 80 minutes. This year is just a big difference. We have a lot of back-up and opposition so everyone can play consistently. Again, if we have injuries, we have cover there, which is great.”

The change in energy is palpable. What was once a side patching together line-ups is now a club buzzing with competition and belief. Next up for Galwegians is Ennis, newcomers to this level of rugby but a young squad with plenty of quality.

Although Ennis are AIL debutants, they are far from lacking in experience, with Gareth O’Hanlon’s charges having a strong spine of talented players. With two wins from their four games so far, Canty admits they will not underestimate them.

“Coming up against Ennis now this week, we had our down week, so we were reviewing games and stuff like that to see Ennis’ strengths and weaknesses.

“Ennis do have a lot of experience within that team, especially Saskia Conway Morrissey who plays with them. She was with us for a season or two. Then you have Caoilfhionn, her sister. She was capped with Connacht this year with us.

“Lyndsay Clarke was with Munster as well this year. They have loads more talent. You can never underestimate them.”

Not only will they expect a difficult assignment this weekend with Ennis making the trip to Crowley Park for a 5pm kick-off, but beyond that the tests will only get stiffer. Title holders UL Bohemian, Old Belvedere, Blackrock College, and Railway Union – a gauntlet of Irish Women’s club rugby heavyweights.

“We know it will be a tough game as well when they’re coming up to Crowley Park. The block after Ennis as well, which we will be really knuckling down for, because you’re playing against girls with a lot of experience, especially those teams that have been together for years.”

That experience of facing some of the country’s best, learning from them, growing through it, has shaped Canty’s own rugby development.

Making the jump from junior rugby to college level and then playing in the All-Ireland League was a number of big leaps, but the journey has seen her become one of the leaders that remain within this ‘Wegians group, and can help the newest recruits who are on a path so familiar to her.

“It was a big experience personally, especially coming from a Munster set-up. Very experienced, very talented players and then coming up into Connacht, the same as that.

“I started playing in college then. I was with NUIG for two or three years and then I moved over to Galwegians just to play AIL.

“Girls that transferred over to us last year, they just wanted to play with the experienced girls, learn from experienced girls and all that, so that’s what I wanted to do. It was a big jump, a big wake-up call I suppose.

“You’re coming up against girls that have been playing at this standard for maybe five, ten years. When I first started in Galway, I was playing against the likes of the Lindsay Peat and stuff like that.

“I was watching players like her, Ireland internationals, on TV, so actually to be able to come up against her on a pitch and tackle her and stuff like that was a great experience, a scary experience at the same time, but it was really good and obviously (so much) growth as a player and stuff like that.”

All of it feeds into what she and Galwegians are now trying to build. Not just a winning team, but a sustainable one, one that grows and performs week after week.

The Glenina-based club have gone through a turbulent period in recent years, rebuilding structures, refreshing squads, and losing some outstanding players to retirement and other commitments.

And as ‘Wegians chase their fifth straight win of the current campaign, there is a sense that they are back competing hard, believing, and building something that will last. If it does not happen this season, it will eventually, with the belief that stems from the squad that they can make the top four.

They have made obvious improvements ahead of a harsh winter block, growing their game in both defence and attack, and come spring they hope those green shoots are still showing, to continue a charge at the top end of the table.

“What we said in our meeting at the start of the year is literally just growing and performing – that was the main thing we got out of our meetings before the start of the season. We just wanted to perform in every game.

“Look, scorelines are scorelines. Some are pretty, some aren’t, so we were like at least when we come off the pitch and we feel like we performed and did the best that we could, that’s all that matters as of now.

“Obviously we would love to hit the top four and hopefully we will, but definitely this year, what we agreed amongst each other is just performing and coming off that pitch knowing that we gave 100% and that we’re going to work on the week after and fix the mistakes we made.

“It’s all going well so far, so we just want to bring it as far as Christmas and then we regroup during Christmas and start again in the New Year,” she added.

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