Newtown Blues mourning for footballing greats
JACKO AND JA WERE PART OF THE TRADITION OF NEWFOUNDWELL
THEY soldiered side by side for years with the Newtown Blues and on Monday morning, a club said goodbye to two of their eternal giants.
IN John ‘ Jacko’ Smith, the town has lost one of its foremost GAA figures, a man synonymous with success, be in on the GAA pitch or the greyhound track, he was a driving force in securing the new Blues home at Newfoundwell, a project that was headed by him from 1989.
Jacko started his football career with the Naomh Mhuires and won a Senior FC medal with the club in 1953, having won a JFC with them in 1952. Christy Faulkner was in charge of Mhuire’s in those days and it was the first and only time that the Joe Ward Cup was carried triumphantly across St. Mary’s Bridge.
In 1955, he became involved with the Newtown Blues when they reformed and he went on to win a Junior FC with them in 1958 when playing in his favoured centre half forward slot, seeing off Hunterstown Rovers.
In the early 60s he decided to quit playing and in 1961 he trained the Blues for the first time and so began a wonderful success story.
He trained them to nine championship wins, in 1961, ‘62, ‘63, ‘ 64, ‘66,’67, ‘ 69, ‘ 74 and 1981.
In the mid seventies after Jimmy Mulroy quit the Louth managers role he took up the post for a year and a half, from September 1975. Jacko was also a selector during Declan Smyth’s term as manager, whom he considered as much underrated.
He spent a lifetime at the Blues, as a player, selector, trainer, fundraiser and chairman.
Talking in the past about those days, he stated - ‘ Those were great times teams. We played football with some tremendous footballers, thc Leech’s, Mickey, Liam and Paddy; Oliver, Paul, Mal, Kieran and Blackie Judge, Frankic Fagan and Val Murphy to mention a few. It was a pleasure to train those teams, the players had great dedication and we trained in all kinds of weather in the winter months. We also trained by candlelight in an old shed. My philosophy was to get them fit early on, and then coach them and get a method of playing after that.
‘We were fortunate that throughout that period we were able to bring in some new blood, we acquired Gerry Reilly - a Roscommon native - and Corkman Gerry Clifford and their arrival helped increase the competition for places and keep the lads on their toes.’
The Hlues had a particularly fine outfit when capturing the Joe Ward in 1981 following an easy win over Cooley Kickhams. That Blues outfit were very promising, according to Jacko, and should have won many more titles. Their average age was 21 but they didn’t win it again until 1986.
Jacko and beloved wife Josie lived in Weirhope and that was fitting.
Weirhope owed its beginnings to the foresight of Jacko and Jimmy Lowth, who were both Ship Street men. They collected deposits from neighbours and friends, purchased the field known as “The Merry go-round’, and set about engaging a builder back in 1967.
He told the Drogheda Independent once, ‘We collected 35 deposits to buy the land then got a contractor. Each house cost €2,000. The houses in Ship Street were getting old and they were constantly flooding. We wanted to rehouse people but still keep them nearby and together.
‘ The uptake was amazing. The land was owned by former solicitor JL Reilly, and previously by James Smart. I thinned turnips in this field years ago.’
Jacko’s funeral was to St Mary’s Church on Monday.
Frank ‘Ja’ Clarke played his early days with the Plunketts and won a SFC with them in 1957. He later left them to go to Naomh Mhuire.
He was on that Mhuires team that lost the 1961 SFC final against the Blues but a year later he was wearing the Blues jersey.
He played with them in those glory days of the mid 60s and won seven championship medals. He was also part of the Louth set up and worked with Jimmy Mulroy and Leslie Toal.
Ja had many proud moments with the Blues, in 1981, working with ‘Jacko’ and Patsy Thornton in training the team. They would ultimately beat Cooley in the SFC final, that Cooley side trained by the late Fr Martin Kenny, the former PP in Mell.
His aftermatch comments summed up his trademark attitude to the game.
‘ The championship wasn’t won in the last month,” he said, “it was won back at the start of the season for we were training for this match when other teams weren’t thinking about the season. We were extremely fit and ready for this match, and I think that this was evident during the game”.
Dessie Callaghan and Richie Culhane ‘ tore Cooley apart’ he stated.
In March 1975, Frank had the honour of playing the first match on the new glass back walled squash court at the Star and Crescent Recreation Centre. He was the club champion and enjoyed an exhibition with the chairman, Val Murphy.
He took on the role of coach to the O’Raghallaighs in 1999 and was the first ever “outside” coach of the club.
In tribute, they remarked, ‘Ja proved to be a catalyst that elevated our club back to levels that we hadn’t experienced in two decades. He brought a new way of thinking to our players, young and old, he preached hard work and enjoyment, he made training and playing football fun but always with a view to winning, hard but fair!
‘His way with players was to be straight, brutally honest, yet always fair. As a result, his criticism never hurt, we just wanted to please Ja.
They won the Junior Championship under Ja in 2001, having last won it in 1991, with a team that included several 18 year olds. Frank was laid to rest on Monday morning after mass in Our Lady of Lourdes Church.