James Smyth (born 1949) is an Irish former

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for the

Clan na Gael Clan na Gael ( ga, label=modern Irish orthography, Clann na nGael, ; "family of the Gaels") was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister org ...

club and at inter-county level with the

Armagh senior football team The Armagh county football team ( ) represents Armagh GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of football. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Fo ...

Playing career

Smyth first played

as a schoolboy with St Colman's College in

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

. As a member of the college's senor team, he won consecutive

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

titles as well as a

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup ( ga, Corn Uí Ógáin), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The com ...

medal in 1967. Smyth simultaneously enjoyed success at underage level with the

club, winning three Armagh MFC titles. He subsequently progressed to the club's senior team and won nine Armagh SFC titles in a

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

for the club between 1968 and 1981. Smyth also won three successive Ulster SCFC titles and was part of the Clan na Gael team beaten by UCD in the 1974 All-Ireland club final. Smyth first played for the

in 1968. He quickly became a constant feature on the team and won a

National League Division 3 The National Football League (NFL; ga, Sraith Náisiúnta Peile) is an annual Gaelic football competition between the senior county teams of Ireland plus London. Sponsored by Allianz, it is officially known as the Allianz National Football Lea ...

title in 1976. After being appointed

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in 1977, Smyth guided the team to a first Ulster SFC title in 24 years. Armagh lost the subsequent

All-Ireland final The All-Ireland Final may refer to: * All-Ireland Hurling Final, the last match to be played in the All-Ireland Hurling Championship (Senior, Minor and Under-21 levels) * The last match to be played in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, however, he ended the year by being named on the All-Star team. Smyth won a second Ulster SFC title in 1980. His performances at inter-county level also earned inclusion on the

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

team in the

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

Coaching career

In retirement from playing, Smyth became involved in team management and coaching. He won two Armagh SFC titles as Clan na Gael manager, while he also won a number of school underage titles with St Paul's School in Lurgan.

Media career

Smyth was also a commentator for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Honours

;St. Colman's College *

: 1967 *

: 1967, 1968 ;Clan na Gael *

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

Armagh Senior Football Championship The Armagh Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Armagh GAA clubs. The Armagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1889. Clann Éireann are the title hold ...

: 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981 ;Armagh *

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

(c),

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, Jimmy 1949 births Living people Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Clan na Gael CLG Gaelic footballers Gaelic football managers Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Ulster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers