It’s never too late.
Tristan Noack Hofmann spent transition year of secondary school living and studying in Germany, but also playing with FK Pirmasens. Because by that stage the Cavan native had effectively packed up all other sporting endeavours, including Gaelic football, and set off in pursuit of a soccer career.
He would go on to play for Longford Town, Bray Wanderers and Athlone Town. A talented defender, he represented Ireland at under-15 and under-18 level, and in the middle of it all there was also a trial at Bournemouth.
In the years between 2014 and 2022, there were Kilkenny hurlers who played more Gaelic football than Noack Hofmann.
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“I had parked GAA at that stage, basically during that time I didn’t play at all,” he recalls. “I might have been asked to tog out for the under-21s but over the seven years I played once or twice, at most. Then at the start of 2022 I came back.”
On Sunday, the 25-year-old will line out at midfield in an All-Ireland final at Croke Park. As comebacks go, it hasn’t been a bad one.
Noack Hofmann has been key figure in Arva’s march towards this rarefied air, where they will meet Kerry champions Listowel Emmets, coached by Marc Ó Sé, in the junior club decider.
As with any self-respecting card-carrying Cavan GAA club, there are plenty of traditional old-stock local surnames throughout the squad – Brady, Sheridan, Maguire. So Noack Hofmann adds an exotic cosmopolitan flavour to an outfit nestled up against the borders of Longford and Leitrim, deep in drumlin country.
His parents, Axel and Petra, are both originally from Germany, but Arva is where they set up home and raised a family. It was no great master plan, the pieces of the jigsaw just all came together.
“Mam was studying to be a vet, she was doing work experience here and then the man who had the veterinary clinic retired and she had the option to take it over, which she did, and the rest is history. We’ve been here in Arva ever since. Mam and dad have been so supportive all my life, they’ve been brilliant.”
One of three brothers, Tristan played Gaelic football and soccer until his mid-teens when he started to pursue the latter more seriously.
He established himself as a left back with Mullingar Athletic FC while his experience playing youth football in Germany also helped his development. FK Pirmasens caused a shock in 2006 when they knocked Werder Bremen out of the German Cup.
He lived with his grandparents for that year in Germany and having been raised in a bilingual family the teenager from Cavan adapted quickly to life on the Continent.
“I was going over to do a year in school but I was also going over to play football,” he recalls. “It was a bit daunting, a new school and a new team and getting out of my comfort zone, but at the same time I’d been over in Germany often growing up and they took me under their wing really well over there. It was a great experience.”
On his return to Ireland Noack Hofmann signed with Longford Town and made his debut in March 2016. He juggled school and soccer throughout fifth and sixth year, and remained with Longford until December 2019.
During that spell he was called up to the Ireland under-18 squad and played in two friendlies – away to Hungary and Sweden in June 2016. Current Ireland senior internationals Liam Scales and Mark Travers featured in those games as well.
That same year he travelled to the south coast of England for a trial with Premier League club Bournemouth.
“That was an exciting time, there was talk of going for trials to a few other places as well but I ended up staying with Longford Town.”
If you gave me the choice I’d rather play the Gaelic to be honest, for the simple reason that you are back playing with your friends you grew up with
— Noah Tristan Hoffman
While studying in DCU, Noack Hofmann represented Ireland in the World University Games in Italy in July 2019.
Between 2016 and 2019 he made 73 appearances for Longford.
He played one season with Bray in 2020 before moving to Athlone, but having been afforded only three opportunities on the pitch with the midlanders in 2021, Noack Hofmann stepped away.
“I wasn’t getting as much game-time as I would have liked and after a few changes of managers over those seasons, that was that really,” he recalls.
“When you are doing such an amount of travelling, it’s a lot harder to justify it when you aren’t getting the game-time so I parked the soccer then.”
But just as he nudged one door shut, Noack Hofmann prised an old one open again. At the start of 2022 he went back to the future, packed his gear-bag and returned to Michael Cully Park.
“I went back to play with all of my old friends,” he recalls. “And I don’t regret any bit of it.
“If you gave me the choice I’d rather play the Gaelic to be honest, for the simple reason that you are back playing with your friends you grew up with.
“I’d say 90 per cent of us all went to the same school, that’s nearly the most enjoyable part of it, there’s a very natural tight bond. We are all friends outside of football.
“In soccer you are kind of playing with your workmates, if that makes sense, players who might be team-mates only for a year or two, but with the GAA club you are going out playing with the friends you’ll be going to the coffin with.”
Noack Hofmann runs his own gym locally now – Tristan NH Health & Fitness – and so he has had a front-row seat watching how the team’s journey towards Croke Park has lifted an entire parish.
“We have the most supportive community, they are brilliant at getting behind the team. I could see that even when I wasn’t involved, so to be able to take them to Croke Park and see what it means to everybody, it’s brilliant.”
Despite an absence of over half a dozen years away from Gaelic football, it took Noack Hofmann just one season to catch the attention of the Cavan senior football management.
In 2022 he helped Arva advance to the county junior football decider, which they lost to Drumlane. But the all-action midfielder scored 1-1 in that final and after an impressive debut season of adult football he was invited to train with the Cavan squad.
Noack Hofmann, just 12 months after his first adult club game, made his Cavan senior debut at the age of 23 in a McKenna Cup win over Antrim last January. It’s never too late.
He also featured against Armagh in the McKenna Cup last year while there were substitute appearances against both London and Offaly in the Tailteann Cup too. The plan for 2024, after Arva’s adventure comes to an end, is to build on that intercounty taster season in the months ahead with Cavan.
“My body is a different shape now, Gaelic football bodies are completely different from soccer, players in soccer tend to be a lot more compact,” he explains.
“So I had to concentrate on my body, it has been a process, and I’ll be looking forward to going back in the spring and using that conversion over the last year to try kick on with the county team.”
He was part of the Cavan squad at Croke Park in April when they beat Fermanagh to win the Division Three league title but didn’t feature in the match. He will make his first playing appearance at the venue on Sunday, operating smack bang in the middle of the pitch – another significant milestone in a remarkable sporting story which has many chapters still yet to be written.
Kerry clubs have dominated the All-Ireland junior club competition, since its inception in 2002 the trophy has gone back to the Kingdom on 11 occasions.
“If you want to go all the way you have to play against the best teams,” adds Noack Hofmann. “Kerry always produce good football teams but it’s a final so anything can happen.”
Only one Cavan club has ever claimed an All-Ireland junior club title, Drumgoon beat Belmullet in the inaugural final in 2002, but that game was played in Cremartin.
No club from Cavan has ever won an All-Ireland final at Croke Park.
But it’s never too late.
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