Donie Smith happy with retirement decision
Pictured is former Roscommon Minor Footballer, Donie Smith, at the launch of the 2026 Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland Minor Championships. This summer, Electric Ireland are using their social channels to spotlight players from across the Championships, in recognition of the major impact that playing Minor can have on young people’s future successes, on and off the field. Electric Ireland are pairing up former Minor Legends with current players to give the ultimate insight into the last 15 years of Minor. You can follow the campaign on social media @ElectricIreland and via the hashtag #ThisIsMajor.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Donie Smith about dealing with retirement from senior inter-county action, the influence of his brother Cian, who is the Roscommon U20 manager, and how Mark Dowd's team can respond in the All-Ireland series.
By Cian O'Connell
Donie Smith has no regrets.
For the talented Boyle attacker, the time was simply right to step away from the senior inter-county stage. "Obviously, it's a big change, but I knew last year in June after we were knocked out that this is it," Smith reflects.
"I'm living in Dublin with a young family, I knew this was me being done to be honest. I'm still busy enough, I'm doing a good bit of media stuff and punditry, I enjoy going to games.
"I love watching games, I'm doing a bit of coaching here and there too. I'm still keeping busy, and as you can probably understand, nothing beats playing. Sometimes, you've to be realistic and know when the body is tip top, and when it's not."
Smith doesn't want to reflect too much. It isn't his way. "I'm one of those who just moves on, genuinely," Smith replies.
"I finished up and was like what do I do now? When I dwell on something, you can be romantic about it or look back and think about different things. What happens, happens. I tried my best to leave that there and to go to do something else.
"That's what I'm doing, I try to do it with everything. As a professional person you just go what happens, happens. I didn't want to dwell on it because if you dwell on it, that means you're still living back there.
"I'm very much what's very next on the agenda. Have I any skill do to anything or am I any good at anything else. That is the way I've been looking at it."
Smith is enjoying being a pundit, analysing matches and discussing football. "I don't know a whole lot in life, but I know how to talk football, and I know a lot about football," Smith replies.
"If someone wants to talk football with me, I'll talk football with them. It's my opinion at the end of the day, and my opinion in my head is right. Your opinion in your head, is right.
"We're not talking religion or politics here, we're talking football. If you disagree with me, we can still be friends, it's just football.
"The big thing for me when we're talking about punditry, and I'm lucky enough that I played in the new rules, I try to come from a players perspective all of the time.
"So, if I see something, if I'm on a podcast or on the TV or the radio, I'll talk in terms of the player, what they're doing, what I think they're doing, and what the scenario in front of the player looks like. That is the way I go at it.
"In five years time it might be obsolete, it might be boring, but that's the only way I know how to do it."
