'I've absolutely loved playing with Westmeath'

Pictured: Westmeath's Jack Smith tries to halt the progress of Kildare's Ben McCormack during the recent league game between the teams. Photo: John McCauley.

When Jack Smith joined the Westmeath senior football panel in early 2019, it didn't take fans long to realise that his Lake County pedigree is very strong.

Peter Smith, Jack’s father, played in the Leinster minor football final against Dublin in Croke Park in 1982, and he went on to be a hugely-respected stalwart of the Mullingar Shamrocks side which dominated Westmeath club football in the first half of the 1990s. He also held down a regular corner-back slot in the maroon and white colours at adult level, a career which included a respectable defeat at the hands of Pat O’Neill’s Dublin in the Leinster SFC in Tullamore on the June Bank Holiday Monday in 1993.

Jack, who turned 28 recently, won an All-Ireland U21 football medal with Dublin in 2012, with none other than the now-legendary Jim Gavin in the sky blue and navy bainisteoir’s bib. He also garnered a prestigious Sigerson Cup medal with DCU three years later. Jack said that “there were no Westmeath players on that side, but ‘Fish’ (Killian Daly) was on the team the next year. He would have been the only lad I would have known before I joined Westmeath.”

Speaking ahead of Saturday's Leinster SFC showdown between Westmeath and Dublin, Jack explained how his inter-county transfer came about.

“I worked for a year in MCR with one of the Westmeath selectors, Paschal (Kellaghan), while Jack (Cooney) would have played football with my dad. I was on the National League squad with Dublin for a couple of years and didn’t really break on. Jack Cooney gave me a call and asked me would I be interested in coming on board. We met up and it kind of went from there.”

Jack played in the latter games of Westmeath’s promotion-winning campaign from Division 3 in 2019, a year when sport proceeded in a normal manner. However, this year will forever be associated with the dreaded Covid-19 virus which has totally disrupted all aspects of life in Ireland since early March, and Gaelic games have suffered accordingly.

Jack, a corner-back like his father, remains philosophical, saying: “Our preparations have been good. Everybody has been brilliant with all the off-the-field protocols, and on the pitch we have all kept the head down and tried to chip away. It is hard to prepare, but we are putting our best foot forward.”

“It’s good that we stayed up in Division 2. I definitely think we are not a hundred miles away from Division 1, to be honest, as one or two of the games could have gone our way – specifically the Cavan match (a narrow loss, after Westmeath had led at various stages) and Armagh (a draw, with the Orchard County equalising through a late goal),” he adds.

In general, Jack, a physio by profession, is very pleased with his move down the N4. “I have absolutely loved it. They are a good bunch of lads. They have been really friendly and welcoming since I came in. I think the training has been brilliant as well,” he says.

Television coverage and the absence of floodlights in TEG Cusack Park have deprived Kieran Martin and his colleagues of the opportunity to play the all-conquering Dubs at home, as per the provincial draws which took place over a year ago. Indeed, Westmeath GAA headquarters is no more than stone’s throw away from where Peter Smith was reared on Harbour Street, Mullingar.

“We would have liked the game to have taken place in Mullingar, but it’s not something to get too bogged down about. We can’t change it now,” Jack reflects, before adding, “the new transport arrangements to matches are definitely different, but we have got used to them. There’s no car pooling which is a bit annoying. It makes for a long journey by yourself. It’s a matter of leaving a bit early to get yourself set up, and that’s what we will all have to do to get to Portlaoise.”

The Skerries Harps clubman has also played under Dessie Farrell, the successor to Gavin after he stepped down having won a unique five Sam Maguires in succession, and Farrell will be the man patrolling the line for the unbackable Dubs for the first time in championship action next Saturday evening.

And what is Jack’s ambition in what is an out-and-out David v Goliath clash? “We’re looking to put in a performance that we are happy with. That’s the main thing. We are going to stick to what our plan is. We are focusing on ourselves and if we can all get on the same page, we’ll give it the best go that we can. Dublin are a good team,” he concludes.

His last line may well be a candidate for the ‘Understatement of the Century’ award, but there is no doubting that Jack Smith, if selected, will be totally committed to the cause of his adopted county from the moment that the referee throws in the ball at 6.15pm on Saturday in O’Moore Park.

- Gerry Buckley.