MULLINGAR’S OTHER JOE
Joe Schmidt is just one of a list of stars to line out for Mullingar Shamrocks
JOE SCHMIDT will devote most of his attention to the Stade Ernest Wallon this afternoon, where Leinster will seek to further assert themselves as European rugby’s dominant force. However, if he has a free moment at some point, the Ireland coach might just check out what’s happening in the Westmeath SFC final
It’s an historic day in the town that Schmidt once called home. ‘This is the first time in the entire history of the Association that two teams from the town are meeting in the county final,’ explains Mullingar Shamrocks PRO Tom Hunt.
‘It has created a great buzz around the place.’
Loyalties have been divided all week in Westmeath’s county town. In an example of the close connections, Luke Dempsey is the man hoping to lead St Lomans to their fourth successive SFC title, matching Shamrocks’ feat during the 1990s. Interestingly, Dempsey won county titles as the Shamrocks centre-back in the late 1980s while his children also played with Shamrocks. Uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces will all be on opposing sides.
Schmidt, though, will have no such divided loyalties. He’s a former Mullingar Shamrocks footballer. In September 1992, the young Kiwi schoolteacher, who was coaching Mullingar RFC, was planning on returning to his native New Zealand.
But before he did, he harboured an ambition of playing a game of Gaelic football.
‘Patsy Fagan, who’s a staunch supporter of the club and who was also involved with the rugby club, he came to me and said he had this guy who was leaving Mullingar and Ireland soon and that he wanted to play a game of Gaelic football before he left,’ says club chairman Sean Hynes, who was in charge of the junior side at the time.
Schmidt was an occasional visitor to Shamrocks’ ground as more than half the senior side at the time played rugby during the winter.
‘There was an actual closed-season back then. GAA clubs didn’t start training until the clocks turned in March and had all their games played by October. Some 70 per cent of our players played with the rugby club during the winter,’ Hynes recalls.
‘We had a junior league game against Milltownpass during the week. The senior side were preparing for the county final against Athlone the following Sunday. I told the Milltownpass manager we had someone from New Zealand who wanted to play. I named Joe at righthalf forward. He played fairly well, too. He was darting up and down the wing and he even kicked a point.
‘So, that’s our claim to fame. Someone who has gone on to be one of the best rugby coaches in the world got his first, and probably last, taste of Gaelic football with our club,’ Hynes says. ‘The funny thing is that very few people remember it. I said it to some people at the club a few years ago and nobody remembers it. Tom Hunt dug out the record of the match and, sure enough, his name is there.’
Few within Shamrocks remember that Wednesday evening but, according to Patsy Fagan, who remains a good friend of the Ireland coach, Schmidt does.
‘I was at a wedding with Joe a few years ago and he talked about it, he remembers the experience vividly,’ Fagan states.
‘Our junior side were struggling for numbers at the time, so he played half-forward. Joe would come down now and again to watch Shamrocks when he lived at Mullingar and he always told me that he was eager to play a game of Gaelic before he went back to New Zealand. The opportunity arose that evening.’
Schmidt became a Shamrock during a golden age for the club. Between 1986 to 1995, they contested every county final, winning seven of them under the management of Richie O’Donoghue. They were the last club to win four in a row in Westmeath, between 1992 to 95, a feat that St Lomans will try to emulate this afternoon. And Schmidt is hardly Shamrocks’ only claim to fame. Niall Breslin, better known as Bressie, was midfielder for their senior side in his teens before being snapped up by the Leinster academy ahead of his musical career. One Direction’s Niall Horan lined out for the club at under-age level, too. They have lost plenty of talent to other sports. Conor O’Brien, who captained Ireland’s Under-20s at the 2016 World Cup and made his Leinster debut last season, and his brother Sean, also in the Leinster academy, would both likely be playing for Shamrocks today if they hadn’t gone down the route of professional rugby.
Conor Gilsenan, who is now playing in the back-row for London Irish, was a brilliant under-age footballer for Shamrocks, too, starring in midfield in a minor county final a few years back.
‘Aidan Kenna is another who would be playing today, but he has gone down the route of professional soccer, having signed a contract with Hearts,’ explains Hunt, who is uncle to former Ireland internationals Stephen and Noel.
So, they have lost plenty of talent but they have still found a way back into the county final. ‘It is a bit unexpected,’ Hunt says. ‘But we are going to make the most of it.’
And if Shamrocks halt Lomans’ march to a fourth successive title, a Kiwi who once kicked a point for their junior side might allow himself a small smile.