Mullahoran Dreadnoughts GAA has supplied a steady stream of players to the Cavan senior football squad over the years. Back in the early 'sixties, the club gave us, among others, one Noel Smith. Kevin Carney spoke to the current Assistant Commissioner of the Garda Siochana. The county of Cavan is renowned for producing high-achievers, doers and men of integrity. Noel Smith is one such specimen. Racy of the Cloncovid, Mullahoran soil which put a spring in his step as a gasun, the current Assistant Commissioner of the Garda Siochana is living proof of the adage which ordains 'that you can take the man . . .' Noel is a proud Cavanman and although he has been removed from his native county for many years now, he is still as passionate as ever about everything pertaining to the Breffni county, especially the famed Breffni Blues football teams. His support for the county football teams is hardly surprising given that he himself donned the county jersey in times past, figuring alongside some of Cavan's best ever footballers. Yet, in his early, formative years, Noel's loyalty to the cause of Cavan football was tested to the full, coming under a severe examination as he mixed with some of the creme de la creme of Longford's young football talent at the renowned GAA nursery, St. Mel's College, Longford. It was hardly a surprise though that things of a Longford hue were to pull at young Smith's heart strings. While many of Cavan's academic and sporting hopefuls headed for St. Pat's, College, Cavan, successive crops of Mullahoran wannabes invariably took another road. Certainly for the teenage Smith and many of his peers in the greater Mullahoran area back in the fifties and sixties, going to the educational headquarters of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoice diocese in Longford town was almost taken as a given. And thus, for five years, (1959-64) the young Smith studied hard and played hard in the company of budding Longford, Roscommon and Cavan GAA stars. And boy did he love his time with 'Mels during their Leinster and Hogan Cup exploits! Indeed in playing his part as a strapping, galloping midfielder on the St. Mel's team that lifted the blue riband of national colleges' titles in 1963, Noel amassed some of the best memories of his life to date. "We beat St. Brendan's, Killarney in the '63 final. It was a great match but we had a really fine team at that time and the buzz that was around Longford and 'our' part of Cavan was amazing. "We went for the double the following year but lost after a replay in Athlone to St. Jarlaths, Galway. "I remember Jimmy Duggan did a lot of damage to us that day and it was interestingly to see him going on to star for the Galway senor team in subsequent years," Noel recalls. In tandem with some 120 other 'boarders' and the local 'day' boys, Noel took immense pride in representing his college and got the same sort of buzz as he attained in playing schoolboy football with his beloved Mullahoran. The Mel's experience was undoubtedly something apart though. "Playing football at 'Mel's gave me my first experience of what became commonly known as coaching. "Coming up to the provincial and All-Ireland championships, we trained four times a day. "The first session would have kicked off before breakfast, about 7am, with a few laps of the tarmac track in the school yard. "We'd have a break then for a few hours and then go again at around 12 noon with a light training session, have a full workout at 3.30pm and a final one at 7.30pm. "There was always a gradual build-up in the training with it coming to a peak for the big games." According to Noel, a priest called Father Jimmy McKeon was the guiding force behind St. Mel's at that time. "He was a Leitrim man and we used to compare him to the Leeds and, later, England manager Don Revie. "Fr. Jimmy was the first GAA trainer, that I can recall, to use the blackboard for coaching purposes or for analysing games, drawing diagrams when talking tactics and working on our positional sense. "He was the first coach that I saw who employed systems in Gaelic football." Our man Smith made for a good student, on and off the field of play, at the Longford place of academic and sporting excellence. Blessed with a degree of intelligence that would later help him shoot up to the top echelons of the country's police force, Noel was also adept at making waves on the football field. Imbued with a good 'engine', strong and boasting a Bob Beaman-esque stride, the Mullahoran starlet took to the rigours and traditions of St. Mel's like the proverbial duck. "To be honest, life at St. Mel's wasn't a lot different, in general, to life for a young fella in rural Cavan anyway. "When it came to having time off from studies, you hadn't much choice as regards activities outside of football and handball, no matter whether you were from Cavan, Longford, Leitrim or Offaly - where most of the fellas at 'Mel's came from." Sadly, like so many other young talents, Noel became the victim of the now oh-so-common 'burn-out' syndrome while at 'Mel's. The non-stop of football followed by more football in college proved to be a major turn-off for the Cloncovid teenager. While the college got the balance right between studies and football, on the sporting front it was football, full-time. And, of course, the diet of almost non-stop football at 'Mel's was supplemented by more of the same back home at Mullahoran where Noel made his debut for the club seniors at the age of 16 alongside such club legends as Connie Halton, John 'Gunner' Brady, Danny 'Gunner' Brady and the Hartens. By the time he was 18, Cavan team-manager Mick Higgins had come-a-looking and Noel was pleased as punch to take his place on the county's premier team alongside such luminaries as Charilie Gallagher, Jimmy Stafford and Ray Carolan. But the romance with Cavan seniors was all too brief. In a way, Noel, keen to enjoy a greater variety of experiences in life, still felt imprisoned by the all-enveloping, all-consuming ambitions of football people. Rowing for the Garda Siochana proved a convenient and timely release valve. Gaelic football slowly but surely became a hobby rather than an obsession for him. Any regrets? "I always felt that just because you were on a successful college team didn't mean you were guaranteed to make it big with your county and I wasn't sure whether I was going to make it, on a long-term basis, with Cavan. "I'd say only one out of every ten top-class footballers at college ever do really well at inter-county level. "I think I did have a bit of talent and I often wonder what would have happened had I tried to give the Cavan scene a bit more commitment. "But easing myself away from the intensity and professionalism of the football scene was a bit like getting out of prison for me at the time," Noel opines. And yet, thanks to the pleas of the Dreadnoughts' very own Johnny Joe Brady, Noel at least played club football for a few more years. Later, in 1972, he climbed back on board the county football stage after he allowed Fr. Benny Maguire to inveigle him back onto the panel - a panel which included such precocious talents as Sean and Ollie Leddy, Gene Cusack, Pat Tinnelly, John Joe Martin, Gareth O'Reilly and Steve Duggan. For a short period of time, Noel gave Cavan his all once again but, at a time, when the make-up of Cavan football squads was as changeable as the Irish weather itself, Noel once again slipped off into the shadows without any great fuss. Years on and Gaelic football remains one of his great interests. These days though, Noel isn't quite as tuned in to the native game as he was in times past. Partly due to the bohemian lifestyle he has led down the years, he admits that his knowledge of the Cavan GAA scene in particular in recent times isn't of the intimate kind. Nevertheless, he enjoys keeping a watching brief on Cavan football matters, albeit from a distance. In this respect, he confirms he won't forget the thrill he got and all of his native co-parishioners back in '97 when Mullahoran ended some 60-odd years of heartache to recapture the Cavan SFC crown. The pleasure he got from that Mullahoran triumph was only matched, the maintains, by the thrill of seeing Cavan get their hands on the Anglo-Celt Cup that same summer. But does the Cavan old boy believe the Breffni county can again reach the summit in Ulster in 2004? "There's definitely the talent there and the support within the county. "I'm sure Eamon Coleman will try, over the next couple of years, to build the nucleus of the team around the current Cavan Gaels team that impressed in the Ulster club championship in 2003. " And if he can assemble 30 fellas who are dedicated and committed enough, anything is possible. "But he (Coleman) needs big men down the middle - that's been the backbone of most of the teams that have captured All-Irelands over the years." ********************* Noel Smith was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Garda Siochana in September last, becoming the first Cavan person to hold such high office. Noel joined the police force in August 1964 and in doing so continued a strong family association with the Garda Siochana. His uncle Ned Smith was a garda based in Roscommon while his nephew Bernard Lynch is a Sergeant in Tipperary town. After completing his training at the Garda Siochana college in Templemore, Noel was posted to Clondalkin and later had stints in Chapelizod, SDU, Garda Headquarters ('A' Branch), Ballymote, Carrick-on-Shannon, Garda Headquarters ('A' Branch), Research and Planning, Rathmines, Wexford, Yugoslavia (U.N. Duty), Wexford, Naas, Bandon and Portlaoise. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in October 1978, Inspector in May 1986, Superintendent in July '92 and Chief Superintendent in May '96. Son of the late Thomas and Bridget Smith, Cloncovid, Noel currently lives in Kilkenny and is married to Ann, a native of Tipperary. The couple have five children, two girls and three boys, namely, Avril and Leann plus Niall, Noel and Eoin. They also have two grandchildren. A twin brother Thomas currently lives in Dublin Tweet

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