In an interview with Royal County, Carnaross GFC President Jack Smith recalls his own playing days and assesses the current state of his beloved club. Last season Carnaross were forced to adjust to life back in the Intermediate ranks. Logic would suggest that adjusting to a higher level is more difficult but in Meath club football that is not necessarily the case. The secondary championship, as the dogs in the street know, is a fiercely competitive one. This has been proved time and again by recent Intermediate champions who have immediately stamped their authority at senior level. Indeed it is proved merely by watching a good-qualify, high-stake intermediate encounter. Most aficionados of the game would assert confidently that at least a quarter of all clubs operating at intermediate could hold their own at senior - but being given that opportunity is another matter altogether. Carnaross last season discovered just how difficult it is to bounce straight back up to the senior ranks. It took them time to re-adjust. And before they knew where they were or had time to settle, they were out of contention. Club President Jack Smith has seen his beloved Carnaross go up and down, down and up, many times during his 55 years with the north Meath club. The years have not eroded his enthusiasm for the game or for Carnaross. He knows the reality of a small, rural club, perpetually short on numbers. "First of all we were disappointed to go down but we did expect to perform better at intermediate," he says. "However, under different circumstances, I think we would have performed better. A lot of our players were away during the year, in Kerry, Dublin, Galway and Scotland, and elsewhere too! Plus we had five or six young lads doing the Leaving Cert which made it even more difficult. "I felt a bit for our manager Ciaran Conlon who had a tough year trying to get teams out, especially for evening games in the league. You see, numbers are small here and you're depending on the same group of players all the time. If you're short a couple of them, you're always going to be in trouble." Carnaross' championship scorecard at the end of the season made for even reading: two wins, two draws and two defeats. The wins came against Castletown (in the first game) and Moynalty, the draws against Ballivor and Drumconrath, and they lost to Drumree and Duleek. "No doubt," says Jack, "we could have went a lot closer then we did. For example against Ballivor who made the final: we kicked that many wides in the first ten minutes it was unbelievable. We dominated but couldn't get the scores." The man Carnaross look to for the lion share of their scores, Ollie Murphy, didn't by his exemplary standards, have his most productive season. "Ollie has had better seasons alright," confirms the club President. "But he came in for a lot of attention throughout the year. He had a hard time and the referees didn't give him very much." Having given great service to the club down through the years, Jack Smith was nominated by Carnaross as their inaugural Sean Gael. He enjoyed immensely the award ceremony in Simonstown Gael's clubhouse where he met many friends from yesteryear. He describes the award scheme as a 'great idea'. During Jack's playing days, Carnaross contested four major finals at intermediate and junior level. He remembers his earliest days at the club. "I remember particularly Matty Brien. He was a genius in his own way, the heatbeat of the club. He was secretary and manager. A wonderful man who got us going in the fifties when we had a great spell of success." Carnaross won two of those finals in the fifties, with Jack lining out as a small and extremely fast wing back. "We were a fit team", he recalls. "There were two priest in the parish Fr Rispin and Fr Daly and they really made a great job of us. No team in the Intermediate final was fitter then. In '57 we ran Duleek of the pitch." As a result of his success at club level, Jack made a breakthrough onto the Meath junior team in 1951 where further success ensued. In 1952 the Royal County captured the All-Ireland junior title beating Leitrim in the Home Final and London, in Navan, in the final proper. "I came on as a sub against London but unfortunately I had to come off again," he recalls. "I got a bad gash on my hand when I went down to pick up a ball. But we won in the end and that's all that counted." For the next six years Jack was the epitome of consistency for the Meath juniors. In 1957 three Carnaross men made the team: himself, his brother Tommy and Tommy Fox. "It was a great honour for the club," he says, "having three players on the team." Unfortunately the club could never establish itself in the senior ranks. Numbers again really. But what Jack says next almost encapsulates the history of the Carnaross club: "Even if we haven't had the numbers at the club down through the years, we've always had the quality." Two players he always greatly admired was his own brother Tommy and Mattie McDonald, a "wonderful player, very strong and he could score too." Away from Carnaross none come higher in his esteem then Bernard Flynn and Bob O'Malley. And then back home again you have PJ Gillic and Ollie Murphy. "You couldn't get the beat of them anywhere," Jack says. The former club chairman, manager and selector loved Gillic's heart, skill, his style of play. "So much football now is played around in circles, flinging the ball to nobody. This short handpass game isn't nice to watch at all. But PJ was a pleasure to watch. The way he could catch a high ball in the middle and then deliver it accurately into the forwards. There was no one better than PJ to do that." Time to look to the future now. "There's nothing easy about the intermediate ranks and it will be tough for us. But I think we will be stronger next year. We have a great spirit at the club and a very dedicated committee. Plus a lot of hard work has gone in at underage level in the last number of years. It's hard to pick out individuals for praise but there are a number who deserve it. Master Woods, Helen McGee, Eugene Comiskey, Malachy McDonald, Johnny Caulfield. They've all done great work. And if it's continued, which it will be, then there's no reason why Carnaross can't reclaim its place in the senior ranks." It would just be another repetition of history. Tweet

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