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Where are they now? Former Armagh footballer Jimmy Smyth

Former Armagh star Jimmy Smyth's biggest regret is missing out on a Dr McKenna Cup medal on three occasions
Former Armagh star Jimmy Smyth's biggest regret is missing out on a Dr McKenna Cup medal on three occasions Former Armagh star Jimmy Smyth's biggest regret is missing out on a Dr McKenna Cup medal on three occasions

JIMMY SMYTH (Armagh)

Age: 66

Club: Clan na Gael, Lurgan

When did you play for Armagh?

1968-1981

What do you do nowadays? 

‘Retired?’ I retired from school about six years ago, I had been head of PE at St Paul’s in Lurgan.

Are you still involved in Gaelic football? 

I was secretary of the Ulster Vocational Schools for the past six years but they have now become the Ulster Schools and [Ulster president] Michael Hasson has asked me to be the new chair along with Seamus Woods as secretary.

What do you remember about your first game for Armagh? 

It was against Antrim in a four-county tournament in Casement Park in 1968, and also included Dublin and Sligo. We played Antrim in the first match and I scored a fisted goal, the Dublin and Sligo played in the next match. I always remember Sligo’s Mickey Kearns scored a goal with a dropkick from about 30 yards and the ball never rose more than a foot off the ground. It just roared into the net.

What’s your best memory?

Winning the All-Ireland semi-final against Roscommon. I scored the last two points to draw the thing, but the real winning of the game was Paddy Moriarty blocking Dermot Earley on the 14 yard line. That was a big moment.

And the worst?

We lost three McKenna Cup finals, two against Monaghan and the last one was against Antrim, and that turned out to be my last game for Armagh. I always remember Brian McEniff saying the McKenna Cup medal was the nicest of the whole lot, and we lost three of them. We’d been beaten in the Ulster final by Down and this was about a month later.

Are you glad you played in your era rather than today?

Yes, definitely. I was talking to Ray Morgan the other day and he mentioned some pass I had played, and I said ‘Ray, you’ll not see a pass like that any more’. It’s indicative of the times, but the defence-splitting pass has sort of gone. When you think of the 1994 game between Down and Derry, and even the Armagh v Tyrone games from 2002-05, we’ll never see football like that again. But Tyrone play the football that the modern game demands, and they’re very good at it.

Any regrets?

That Clan na Gael didn’t win the All-Ireland Club in 1974. That’s a big, big regret.