Just as well Phil doesn't suffer from paranoia." Just one quip among many that was spawned from the loins of last December's gathering in Drumavaddy. It said much about the GAA in Cavan.
Cavan gaels may invariably be more doleful than hopeful; more glass half-empty than half-full but leave it to them to generate a bit of black humour.
Phil Smith's send-off as Chairman of Cavan GAA was accompanied by a standing-ovation from the county board delegates gathered in Denn's HQ.
The noise level put into the halfpenny place the reception the same man received when taking up the position three years earlier.
It would nearly convince a body that your peers were estatic at seeing the back of you, but in Phil's case it was certainly thanks for a job well done!
"I was really overwhelmed by the ovation, really taken aback," Phil says. "It wasn't something I expected and certainly wasn't something I had before."
For a man who has already more on his GAA administration c.v than most could hope to garner in a lifetime, it was yet another landmark occasion.
Three years previous, he was similarily honoured when he was the guest of honour at a presentation night hosted by the Kingscourt Stars club.
The Stars came out in strength that night (March 9th, 2007) to acknowledge Phil's achievement in becoming the first Kingscourt clubman to attain the position of county board chairman.
First elected to Kingscourt's executive committee in 1979, Phil went onto serve as club Secretary for a period of twelve years.
Later he would hold the positions of P.RO. and Development Officer, and in 2006 was elected as Vice-Chairman.
Thereafter the wider GAA public of Cavan witnessed Phil assume the mantle of Chairman of the Minor County Board.
The latter was a position he relinquished when going forward to contest Cavan GAA's lead role at convention in December 2007.
As such, the Kingspan management employee's GAA pedigree brooks no debate. His success in highest office in Cavan was no less unequivocal.
"It was a big step going from the minor chairman to senior (chairman) but it was a great honour and a matter of great pride to me and the club.
"I have to say I enjoyed every minute of every day of my tenure as chairman before handing over to Tom Reilly who, I'm sure, will do a good job.
"I genuinely feel I made some contribution to the development of the GAA in Cavan, in various aspects of its running and systems.
"I worked hard at the job but enjoyed my three years in the post all the same and but for family reasons I might well have seen out my five years."
Everyone privvy to Phil's family circumstances will, doubtless, understand that he did the right thing to vacate his position after three years in the role.
He understands too that others a bit removed from the coalface of Cavan GAA affairs may be inclined to judge his innings a tad harshly.
He is conscious of the fact that most punters use silverware as a barometer of how teams perform under the watch of a chairman/manager.
"I'm aware of how people tend to use the results of your senior, under 21 and minor teams as a benchmark in assessing how you have performed.
"If things haven't improved from a playing point of view under your watch, some people may take the view that you weren't up to the task.
"But I knew from my days in the minor board that it would be difficult to achieve success at under 21 and senior levels because of our record."
It's a matter of record how Phil masterminded the appointment of Tom Carr as Cavan senior team-manager via a sports consultancy firm.
Just how quickly those holding the reins can be judged is a matter of tradition in Cavan GAA circles. Carr and Smith quickly came in for some stick.
He regards such a hasty assessment as pretty racy of Breffni folk. Cavan GAA fans are the best, he proffers, but sometimes . . .
"I think the clamour to get onto Tom Carr when things didn't go well last year is fairly typical of the psyche of your average Cavan supporter.
"We've a massive tradition of following our county teams, through thick and thin, and supporters have every right to feel frustrated at certain times.
"But there's no place for the quick-fix and the 'sack the manager' is a cheap option and is far too common in Cavan.
"I was talking to a well-known GAA man at the funeral of Mick Higgins and he remarked about how tight-knit the Cavan Gaa family is.
"He was someone who has been around the block but he said he hadn't seen anything like the send-off Mick got at his funeral.
"We all have to be realistic when it comes to our expectations 'cause we haven't won anything at underage level for a long time.
"I would be the first to argue though that we have better players coming up through the ranks now than we have had for a long while.
"I've personally a lot of hope for the current under 21 team even though they lost out narrowly in the Hastings Cup final to Roscommon."
In being elected at last December's county convention as Cavan's Coaching and Games Development Officer, it appears Phil is to the manor born.
Over the course of his administrative career at club and county level, it has become obvious to everyone that coaching is close to his heart.
But while he is pleased to report that Cavan has made "great strides in the area of the appointment of new coaches", there's a lot more to be done.
He accepts that more pressure will come on coaches employed by the Breffni county to engineer title-winning teams or at least burgeoning starlets.
In terms of the criticism generated in some quarters of the county that a bias has been shown towards coaching at St. Pat's College, he is unmoved.
"The fact is that there are over 500 pupils, all boys, in St. Pat's and while coaching personnel based there has alternated, we are still putting in the same man hours in trying to help improve results there.
"I have great team for all the work that is being done in the vocational schools and I've noticed a big improvement in that sector in terms of results.
"But we can't afford to take our eye off the ball because I believe that the skills base of our school kids is still very low and very poor in clubs too.
"I'd have to say that when the county board brought full-time coaches on board, it had the effect of exhonerating clubs of their responsibility.
"It was almost as if clubs were saying 'right we're paying a club levy here so the county board can look after our under 8s, 9s and up to under 14s.
"Some clubs definitely handed over responsibility for coaching to the county board but, thankfully, that is no longer an attitude that pervades."
Guaranteed to give an honest answer to an honest question, the outgoing chairman believes the quality of referees in Cavan "has to improve."
Still, he feels there has been an improvement in that sphere in recent years and that "there's better quality referees now coming through."
He's concerned that the plethora of 'outside' managers dotted on the Cavan GAA club landscape "are dictating the approach adopted by players to matches and to referees and administrators."
Referring to the county board's 60,000 euros deficit for 2009, Phil believes that Cavan GAA has no choice but to "seriously reduce its expenditure in the short term at least."
"We have had to sit down with the people employed by the board and plan a new way forward and it was the same with our sponsors.
"We took a relatively small hit from our sponsors but the curtailment of our expenses, going forward, is key to us keeping a firm control of our finances."
Excited and delighted by the completion of the new 3G all-weather facility at the rear of Kingspan/Breffni Park, Phil insists that Gaelic games will remain very much part of his life despite leaving the white heat of the kitchen.
He says he will eschew any invitation down the line to get back into the cockpit of Cavan GAA but intends enjoying his new, more relaxing role as the county's Coaching and Games Development Officer.
A 'rest' well-deserved, methinks. Tweet

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