I think both Shane Monaghan and Daragh Sweeney were both let go at the same time. Not sure what Sweeney is up to now, but I thought he was a handy player as well, (for a ginger...)

I thought at the time we were a bit hasty letting Monahan go especially considering how many others were departing. He impressed me at underage and I thought he had shown enough promise when fit to deserve another season.

I won't claim I was up in arms over him leaving though. I saw him as a useful squad player who could do a job if called upon. To be honest though I didn't see him as a player for a side like Gloucester but so these things go. Fair play to him and hope he can continue to show his worth out there.

I think if we had B&I Cup last season we'd probably have held on to him. You'd wonder did we do any better with signing McCrea (on a bigger contract I'd imagine)? So the cookie crumbles I suppose.

In fairness we have made a lot bigger blunders than this on the transfer front.

hindsight may be great but foresight is extremely important when operating within a limited budget. Rotherham showed foresight when they signed a talented injuryprone ail player who couldnt score for connacht shortly after his release and he went on to be top try scorer in championship afaik in his one season there. Gloucester took a punt on that player and are getting the rewards for that now.

My only point on this is given our resources its a pity we didnt see what others have in an obviously talented player. If we had we might have been able to keep players of the calibre of Razor or Henry.

I dont know how Healy compares to Monaghan at this stage of his development but he would appear to be a prolific try scorer at AIL level. Hopefully he is the real deal and gets a chance to prove it here.

At the time he was an injury prone if talented AIL player who looked like he couldn't score in Coppers with a fistful of All-Ireland tickets. Hindsight is great.

that was my point.
its a pity he was let go so quickly. he is clearly a very talented winger and based on your post showed signs of that potential when here but was released.

He most certainly was not "one that got away" if your implication is that the coaching team somehow failed to see a shining star in their midst.

He signed summer 2010 with the starting wing slots for the season held by Fionn Carr (7 tries 2010/11) and Brian Touhy (10 tries 2010/11 - I'm including his try against Samoa). He arrived injured and appeared to be injured for most of the season.

He was finally fit for November and played a handful of games for us between then and Februrary (against Samoa he was very good, started one Amlin and one Magners match and had a couple sub appearances) without scoring. Played a couple of A game towards the end of the season that I didn't see, and wasn't kept on.

Fair play to him for bouncing back so well in the last 18 months.

when did shane monaghan play here?

he definately is one that got away. makes me wonder what was going on recruitment/retainment wise here over the years pre hec.
esp when you consider we now have an niq and project? player in this position.

he looked very good against bath at weekend and was apparently top scorer in championship last season.

overstrander wrote: Still a big fan of Downey, hope he gets that call-up:

www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/vi...-knocks-3251212.html

I can understand his disappointment during his time here, when he was fit he was very impressive for us but at that time we had a tiny squad and just couldn't afford any players out on long injury breaks (only three appearances in the whole of 05/06).

He's a good lad though and I have no doubt that if we had kept hold of him for another year or two he would have had a cap or two for Ireland years ago. The knockback from us obviously affected him, because he was definitely good enough for Munster when he left us, maybe not in the best mental state though..

Still a big fan of Downey, hope he gets that call-up:

www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/vi...-knocks-3251212.html

i see over on the edinburgh forum that the knives are being sharpened for bradley and tonights result is the last straw for many of them.Ref seemingly was a disgrace but losing to Treviso at home aint good.
There will in all likelyhood be no HEC run to distract them this season either so he might be reapplying for his old job this summer!

Barry Fa'amasuili who we had for 3 months in 09/10 has joined Montpellier as a medical joker

swift4prez wrote: thats very strange. porterbelly do you know why he left the drangons?
strange for them to have his profile up, and then him to leave after no more than 3months

No clue, maybe it's a loan deal

thats very strange. porterbelly do you know why he left the drangons?
strange for them to have his profile up, and then him to leave after no more than 3months

swift4prez wrote: stewart maguire was listed as a newport g dragons player at the start of the summer, even his profile on the main page as a first squad.
now its gone. if it believed from someone on here that he was a bit lazy and didnt carry his weight at training in connacht, could be the same in wales.
i seen lastnight another former player asking him how london was. thats why i went and looked

He has signed with Esher in the English National League 1, the tier below the Championship

stewart maguire was listed as a newport g dragons player at the start of the summer, even his profile on the main page as a first squad.
now its gone. if it believed from someone on here that he was a bit lazy and didnt carry his weight at training in connacht, could be the same in wales.
i seen lastnight another former player asking him how london was. thats why i went and looked

swift4prez wrote: <strong>ezra taylor</strong>

not rugby related but he has got himself a bit of acting. how long till he injure himself :evil:

That's about right, bit of posturing and no dialogue for him. Sorta the way he played his rugby, looked the part but never really delivered any dialogue...

Presume at some point he had some talent as a young lad, but his career stats tell you a story...

Thing that pisses me off most is that he has one more Samoa cap than Ray Ofisa...?????????????