'This is very difficult to take, especially this year'

Among the big contingent of Dungannon supporters who made their way to Balreask Old for Saturday’s play-off final were former Irish internationals Paddy Johns and Jeremy Davidson.

They may, or may not, have joined in a giant, perhaps record-breaking, huddle that took place on the sun-drenched pitch and was made up of Dungannon players and their fans. All involved joined arms and sang their club song as they celebrated promotion.

By then the defeated Navan players had retreated from their scene of disappointment to their dressing room. This was a hard one for them to take.

One of those who sought to console the players was the Navan club’s Director of Rugby, Adam Delahunt. His role means he is a central figure in taking Navan into the future – and that future started as soon as the final whistle sounded on Saturday.

One of his chief tasks now is to find a new, full-time head coach. Saturday’s game was Jason Harris-Wright’s last assignment as Navan’s number one. Victory or defeat the former Leinster and Connacht hooker was going to depart. He would have liked to have moved on with a big win that would have secured the team’s status for another year. Sadly, for him and Navan, that didn’t turn out to be the case.

This is Delahunt’s first season as Director of Rugby. He too had fervently hoped the team could avoid the drop especially as this is also the club’s 100th anniversary.

“', but it’s probably been a culmination of where we have been for three, four, five years. We’ve been at the bottom half of the table and that’s what today has come to.”

Relegation, he added, was a “massive” setback with the fact that three players ended up in the sinbin a disadvantage that just couldn’t be sidestepped.

“It’s heartbreaking, it’s tough to take. I was involved in the good days as the club moved up through the divisions, 2C, 2B, 2A, 1B so to see them drop back down again it’s heartbreaking,” he said.

“It’s very hard to play 30 minutes of the game with 14 men. It certainly caught us out. They finished second in their league. They have a winning mentality.”

At times against Dungannon, Navan, feeding off quick ruck ball, put together some fine attacking moves. They were strong in the scrum, their line-out worked fine but unforced errors proved in the end, despairingly decisive for them.

In his day job Delahunt is Head of Treasury for Revolut in Europe. He’s only 39 and a family man with one child. That would appear at first sight to be more than enough to fill his week. Somehow he also finds time to fill in as Director of Rugby, a voluntary role that involves him overseeing all playing aspects of game within the club from the u-6s upwards.

Part of his job involves ensuring “the best possible coaches” are appointed to take charge of the various teams. It’s all part of an overall strategy for the development of the male and female sides of the game at Balreask Old.

“We have to start adapting a business mentality when it comes to rugby. We can’t just rock up here and hope it all works out, we have to have pathways and plans in place, to look beyond today and tomorrow and think about how we are going to look in two or three-years time, how we can develop 15, 16 and 17 year-olds into future players. It’s too late when they are 21, 22 and saying they’re not ready.”

For years a huge problem for Navan was having to watch as their best young, mainly college-going players were signed up by Dublin clubs. It still is an issue. In recent years the club has supplied a bus to take the players for training back in Navan to help maintain some connection. That will continue.

“We’re saying to these young players we’ll supply a bus, feed them, whatever it takes, so that they appreciate the structures that are there. Unfortunately we live in the era when Instagram is the thing and lads love walking down Grafton Street with their Clontarf and Lansdowne tops on. We’re trying to say, 'love Navan, it’s not the centre of the universe but it’s the centre of my universe', that’s the struggle.”

Saturday was one of the dark days for Navan RFC. Adam Delahunt is working to ensure there will be brighter times ahead