Dream a reality for Hornet Smith

Reality television is renowned for supplying bursts of fame but Mullingar native Connor Smith has bucked the trend by holding his own for Championship club Watford and the Ireland U21s.

Since his dalliance with the Sky cameras back in 2010 for Football’s Next Star series, in which he finished runner-up, Smith has represented Ireland at the U19 Euro finals and broken into Gianfranco Zola’s side.

A dose of drama even reentered his professional career in May 2012 when Ireland U19 boss Paul Doolin claimed the striker had withdrawn from a squad on grounds of being “too tired”.

The criticism certainly hurt, yet not enough to prevent him prospering at Vicarage Road and catching the eye of Ireland U21 manager Noel King.

Ahead of tonight’s Championship meeting with Doncaster, in which he hopes to make his third outing of the season, the now 20-year-old set the record straight on the incident.

“Paul might’ve been a bit annoyed at me then and just worded it that way,” explained Smith.

“But I had a few niggles and made the decision myself not to travel. I spoke to the club about it and we thought it would be best. I wasn’t feeling 100% and wanted to be right for the new season. It was my first pre-season with Watford and the rest certainly helped me progress. I came off the bench in first game of the season (against Crystal Palace) so obviously I impressed the manager. Then, I got a new contract straight away.”

Smith talks of the influence of Zola on his development and how the Italian he once marvelled at on TV dazzling for Chelsea still teaches a trick or two in training.

“He’s one of the top players to ever play in England, so I was awestruck when I first came into the first team,” he said.

“Sometimes he joins in the training and is still one of the better players involved.

“After training, he’s sometimes takes me aside for a half hour by himself to work on things. He’ll show you how it’s done and you don’t forget it. How couldn’t you, from such a great player?”