A slice of life in the company of Peadar
Kilmac stalwart’s loyalty and dedication shines through
PEADAR SMYTH may well be the first Co. Monaghan man to be awarded the Wicklow GAA Clubman of the Year but he is most certainly the first man ever to be interviewed by a journalist whilst delivering pizzas.
You see, in-between a family and an incredible devotion to Kilmacanogue GAA, Smyth also runs Four Star Pizza in Bray. When not delivering or making pizza, he is usually found organising fixtures or training or gym sessions or any of the other dozen activities he’s responsible for but tonight (Wednesday 20/12) he is reluctantly about to talk about the honour recently bestowed upon him.
So while he searches for his latest delivery address, I sit beside a toasty pizza intently listening to his modest Monaghan orotund tones.
“When I started off, there was always a good crew of people around me. This is not the Peadar Smyth show” he argues. “When you look back to Owen Molloy, Joe Molloy and John Donnely, sadly all deceased but who put in tremendous work. And nowadays we have Des Fox, Mark Quinn, Paddy O’Brien and Daryl Tighe - I could go on - this award to me isn’t about me, it’s about the group of people that I’ve worked with in this club right down through the years. I might have been at the front of it half the time but these people are really savage workers in the background. They were the ones prodding and pushing and we just picked up the pieces and ran with it.
“This a group thing that we’ve achieved. It’s part of a group of people. Some people will have stepped out and other people will have stepped up. It wasn’t just about one or two people. “
A job in Tesco (nee Quinnsworth), Bray, is how he met Anne. A phone call from her good self during the interview shows that her contact is saved as “boss” on Smyth’s phone - in case you haven’t sussed it yet love blossomed and a marriage and two daughters lay in wait for young Anne and Peadar. So it was his heart that saw him leave Monaghan behind but soon after setting up home there would be another love in his life: Kilmacanogue GAA.
“I was here for about a year or two and Dinny Flynn (a neighbour and local legend) approached me one time - Dinny is my life coach - he said the lads need a dig-out. Des Fox approached me about doing a lotto. I started doing that and then the rest is history. That was about 25 years ago.
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as a small part in the GAA. Every job; whether you’re a player or a mentor or whatever, it’s full-on.”
Smyth’s devotion is savage. He is at training long before the players and normally locks the gates as he leaves Fitzsimons Park too. Anne has grown accustomed to his dedication though.
“When she got married she knew what she was letting herself in for! It’s GAA. I didn’t just decide all of a sudden to get involved. I travelled and always have done to a lot of the Monaghan matches and she knew what she was getting herself in for. Sure even the kids, Sandra and Ciara, grew up on the sidelines of pitches and went to games. That’s life.
“From February to November, it’s full-time. It’s not necessarily up on the pitch, it’s the phone calls, the matches, the training, getting stuff ready, organising. It’s a lot of time.
“It’s part of my way of life at this stage. It’s part and parcel of the daily and weekly routine. When you do the roster for the week, you’re doing the roster for what’ll happen in the GAA as well. You’re rostering work and family life and whatever else that’s going with it and that’s just the way it is.”
In his time at the club, he has had a front row seat to watch them transform from a happy-go-lucky side to an ambitious animal that wants to go straight to the top.
“Huge changes. When you take a look back, we were just existing; just surviving. We were stagnating and happy to stay where we were until a few questions were asked about why we weren’t pushing on and why we weren’t moving on. There was a lot of soul searching at the time and we looked at it and said that if we’re already willing to put this much time into it, then why not do it right? We were putting time in and going nowhere so we wanted some reward for the time and effort being put in.
“Conan Daye was the first man to come in and when I approached him about staying on a second term he said that we don’t need him because we were happy enough to beat our local rivals and consider it a good season. That was it. Once we beat them and stayed in the middle we were happy enough. We were stagnant.
“Looking back, we weren’t the only ones that decided at the time that we needed to start doing things properly. A lot of the clubs were on the same wavelength but we were probably a year or two behind them. We caught up and it’s been very good. It’s been challenging but we’ve had a few good years.”
Kilmac have enjoyed a success laden few seasons but 2017 saw them fall short of promotion and also almost fall out of the intermediate championship trapdoor. He can’t fault the players though, who will have a new bainisteoir in 2018 following Jonathan Daniels’ departure.
“Disappointing enough (this year) but you have to realise where we are compared to where we were. We were within a couple of points of going into Division One football. We were beaten in the semi-final of the intermediate championship last year. It’s all part and parcel of the learning curve but we’re at a different level to where we were at. We’ll regroup and push on again.
“To be fair to the group of lads up there at the moment, we’ve never really had a night where there’s only 10 up there without really good excuses. They work very hard. The lads put in serious effort. When you put in serious effort and you see the lads doing the same, it’s worth it.
“One of the best in the county (Daniels). He brought us to another level again. He asked a lot of questions and got some answers. We were thrilled to have Jonathan and Wes (Callaghan) on board for three years - it was great.”
Alongside a new manager, the club also hope to be operating out of a new clubhouse. An alleged arson attack saw their former dressing rooms left uninhabitable and it proved to be the kick in the backside that they needed.
“It’s like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. Myself, Jason Doyle, Daryl Tighe and Sean Creavin met one Sunday morning at the pitch and we looked at how we could improve the dressing room facilities. There was room for improvement and a hunger to do it but when I was standing there wondering can we build on the old dressing room, the other three were up pacing out the basketball court. They said let’s go big with this and that’s where it started.
“We had all these ideas in our head of where we wanted to go and the only man we had to prove it to was Des Fox. We went up to Des and he embraced it with open arms. And that’s why we are where we are.”
Smyth will never be foolish enough to think he’s cracked it though, not with Fox around.
“Just when we think we have it all sussed, the likes of Des Fox come along and level us.”
It isn’t just the man hours that he puts in though. Smyth has often dipped into his own pocket to kit out teams and does so without ever wanting a hint of praise or recognition. It is this, and everything else he does for Kilmacanogue GAA club, which saw him deservedly crowned club person of the year - even if he suspected he was being stitched up.
“I wasn’t there, I couldn’t believe it. I got a text and I thought it was a wind-up. I was getting more and more texts then and I didn’t believe it until I saw it on Facebook. It’s an award that any clubman in Wicklow could get. People are working really hard at every club. There’s a small nucleus in every single club that are working really hard and any one of those lads would have deserved this award. It was a huge honour to receive it because I know what others are putting into their clubs.”
Will there ever be a day when Smyth steps away from Kilmac?
“Nobody ever gets out of this. You’ll always be involved. “