Aaron Smyth looks back on the rise and rise of Broadford Hurling Club

Broadford hurling has seen a sharp rise in recent years, from competing in the Junior Championship just a short time ago to now mixing it at Senior B in 2024.

As well as back-to-back Junior and Intermediate Championship wins, their housemates Clogherinkoe also won an Intermediate Championship in 2020, which was the start of an exceptional run of success for the close-knit pair.

Aaron Smyth, among a handful of others, played for both sides in their efforts to progress through the Kildare hurling and football ranks. A journey that began at five years old for Aaron when his family heard a knock at the door.

“It all started with a man called Vinnie Fox. He called down to my house, which is only 500m from the club, and they were stuck for numbers for an U6s game. I had never held a hurl, but he brought me and my neighbour Mikey down to the club. Threw on a helmet, grabbed a hurl and started, haven’t stopped since,” Aaron explained.

“My grandad and great-grandad would have played on the Galway senior football team. They both would have played a bit hurling too, but they did eventually go on to choose football.”

The small ball has always been closer to Aaron’s heart however with the 24-year old now a seven-year veteran of the Broadford senior team.

“In the last few years with Broadford, we have stepped up the game. In terms of going from Junior to Senior B now. It was one of those things that as we started to do better and better more interest came, with lads coming back and new ones joining. It has been fantastic and it has continued in that same kind of fashion with minors coming through,” Aaron said.

“The young lads have slotted in brilliantly. It is a small club, everyone knows everyone, but a brilliant club atmosphere and we are well able to support each other. Some of us have been playing together since we were five.”

After a Junior title win in 2021, momentum gathered for Broadford and after initially bracing themselves for the step-up in quality, played their way into another county final.

“Yeah it was fantastic. It was brilliant for the club and the lads. When you win the Junior you think it is going to be a massive step up, and it was, but we have managed to step ourselves up with the Divisions and Championships as we have been going. I don’t think anyone really expected to go from winning Junior Championship to Intermediate, but we ended up putting it together during the year. We pulled together and did it,” Aaron recalled.

“The Junior win gave us the belief that we are well able to do this and that made it easier down the line to get everyone on board and pushing in the same direction.”

Broadford faced Maynooth in the 2022 UMPC Intermediate Hurling Final and ran out commanding winners on the day at 0-21 to 0-10. The side who had operated at Junior just 12 months prior to the final win were now a Senior B hurling team. All while having achieved league success and won an IHC in the same year.

“We had a very strong Intermediate Championship to that point and we had a very strong team on the day. A few lads that are gone to Australia now and minors from the year before. We just got started straight away and even when they got back into it midway through the game, we just kept sticking the points over,” Aaron said.

“We had built up an early lead so we just wanted to push on and keep it going. It was a fantastic game and you don’t expect a win like that in an Intermediate county final. We built from the start and kept pushing. There was no doubt once we got ahead.”
Aaron would play a pivotal role in his side’s success throughout the year and in particular on county final day. The Leinster Leader report of the game stated, “Broadford took the lead inside three minutes with Aaron Smyth firing over to give his side a lead they would never relinquish.”

The man who got the game’s opening point would finish as joint top-scorer on five points all of which came from open play.

“When you are playing in a county Championship final, you know they don’t always come around and they are not guaranteed.

The fact that we got to two in two years was brilliant and the Intermediate was in St Conleth’s, so that kind of added to it as well. We played very well on the day and got there. You are playing with some of your best friends, whether it is winning Championships or just having the craic after, it is all brilliant,” Aaron said.

“It doesn’t really compare to any under-age finals you get to because you have the whole community there behind you. There was such a big deal of it made around here, whether it was people coming down to wish you the best of luck or putting banners and signs up, there was a lot. You don’t realise how much people are invested in the club until you see it like that. We had such a crowd out and then it is great craic to be able to line out with the lads you played with throughout the years.”

It’s been a whirlwind few years for Broadford after their recent success. They have continued to develop and evolve as they seek to cement themselves as a Senior B team with ambitions for higher.

“It’s been a jump and like nearly every club we have lost a few lads to travelling and doing their own bits. At the same time, we have had some fantastic hurlers join us too and the team that won the Junior Championship looked very different to the team that is now playing Senior B, and not for the worse either,” Aaron said.

“There are brilliant hurlers coming through with a few new minors and last year a lot of them made a home for themselves straight off the bat. They slotted straight in and we are doing okay. We have a new manager this year who is involved to push us on and it is still a transition for us adapting to Senior B and bringing new faces through. We are there or thereabouts, we just need to keep pushing and hopefully in the next year or two we can challenge for it.”