Jimmy Smyth (hurler)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Séamus Mac Gabhann | ||
| Sport | Hurling | ||
| Position | Full-forward | ||
| Born | 1 January 1931 Ruan, County Clare, Ireland |
||
| Died | 9 February 2013 (aged 82) Clontarf, County Dublin, Ireland |
||
| Occupation | GAA administrator | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| Ruan | |||
| Club titles | |||
| Clare titles | 5 | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
| 1948–1967 | Clare | 23 (20–53) | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Munster titles | 0 | ||
| All-Irelands | 0 | ||
| NHL | 0 | ||
James "Jimmy" Smyth (1 January 1931 – 9 February 2013) was an Irish hurler who played as a full-forward for the Clare senior team.
Smyth made his first appearance for the team during the 1948–49 National Hurling League and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement after the 1967 championship. During that time he enjoyed little success, winning one Oireachtas medal and one Thomond Feis medal. A Munster final runner-up on two occasions, Smyth is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have won an All-Ireland medal.
At club level Smyth was a five-time county club championship medallist with Ruan.
In retirement from play Smyth came to be regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time. In 1984 he was named on a special Hurling Team of the Century made up of players never to have won an All-Ireland medal. In 2000 he was named on the Munster Hurling Team of the Millennium.
Smyth first enjoyed success on the hurling field during his tenure at St. Flannan's College, a famed hurling nursery in Ennis. At Flannan's he was a hurling protégé, going straight into the Dean Ryan Cup team as a thirteen-year-old and winning his first medal when Ennis won the junior championship.
In second year he made his debut on the Harty Cup team. He won his first Harty Cup medal that year as St. Flannan's defeated the North Monastery of Cork to take the title. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Smyth's side face St Joseph's of Marino. A 7–10 to 2–3 trouncing gave Smyth his first All-Ireland medal.
St Flannan's retained their Harty Cup crown in 1946 following another defeat of the North Mon. O'Connell School from Dublin were the opponents in the All-Ireland final and a close game developed. A 5–7 to 5–2 score line gave Smyth his second All-Ireland medal.
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