BAREFIELD’S MAURICE Nugent is returning to Eamonn Deacy Park.
Nugent rejoins Galway Utd after close to a year with English side Uxbridge F.C, who play their football in the Isthmanian League South-Central Division. Maurice left the Tribesmen when he moved to London in January of this year for work but always indicated that he would keep the door open on a return to the League of Ireland.
His return ahead of the 2023 season will be warmly welcomed by fans who will recall that Maurice made 86 appearances for the club in four seasons, his debut coming in the EA Sports Cup Quarter-Final against Sligo Rovers, winning 3-2 on penalties after 120 minutes.
Now twenty four, the centre back was highly regarded by former manager Alan Murphy who had him as vice captain. He played a key role in the spine of defence during his last season with Galway as they broke a club record for the longest amount of time without conceding a goal, setting the new club-record at 516 minutes.
Promotion to the Premier Division has already been earmarked as the top priority for the Barefield native. “The big thing I miss is playing games in front of the fans at Eamonn Deacy Park, in my last season we were getting great crowds towards the end of the year, and it looks like they’ve stayed coming back which is a great sign. I’m really looking forward to playing in front of them all again.”
“Promotion is the goal, there’s a big group of players there who have been there for the last two years, they know exactly what it takes. You can’t have any complacency, you need to churn out results week after week. Hopefully we can get to work early and produce good results next year,” the qualified engineer added.
With international experience for the Irish U19 and Irish Universities side, Nugent who joined Mervue Utd when he was sixteen will be a big addition to John Caulfield’s squad.
His return to Galway Utd follows the signing of Newmarket-on-Fergus’ Callum McNamara from Treaty Utd. Talks are believed to be ongoing regarding Caoilfhionn O’Dea’s future with the club, the twenty two year old starred in the club’s academy before making the step-up to their first team, the passing ability of the Mullagh midfielder has always impressed Caulfield.
