Footballer Walsh would like some hurling silverware too

GAELIC GAMES:AIDAN WALSH made such a massive impact in the All-Ireland football final – lording midfield for Cork with an extraordinary display of sheer physical strength – many of us watching from the stands thought this was no man, but a giant.

Yet, standing in a pinstripe suit outside a Dublin hotel yesterday, Walsh could have passed as an ordinary man.

He was in Dublin to collect his Vodafone Player of the Month award for September, based, obviously, on his All-Ireland performance.

In recounting the story of his rise to the top, Walsh reminded us that hurling is his game almost as much as football. He won Munster minor titles in both codes, and although he wasn’t able to juggle the two this summer, he hopes to return to Cork hurling in the near future, ideally at senior level.

“If I get the chance, I’d love to play hurling,” he said. “Next year is my last year at under-21, and I hope to play a bit of under-21 hurling next year. This year was a bit of a disaster, really. It just all piled up on top of each other.

“Hopefully, we can all work together next year and work it all out. Football would be my number one, to be honest, so if football came on top of hurling I’d choose football. But I would like to try both, if I was over 21.

“I think being under-21 there is so many games with division and club. But after I am over 21 and, if the manager thinks I’m good enough, then I’d definitely give it a shot. You don’t get that opportunity too often, so if you get it you have to take it.”

The obvious inspiration is team-mate Eoin Cadogan. “I spoke with Eoin alright, and it was hectic. Even towards the middle of the season Eoin wasn’t playing any football. It was only when the hurling was over he was able to come back into it.

“But Denis Walsh and Conor Counihan played together, and they have a good relationship, and that’s a big thing. It’s all about having a good relationship and being able to work together.

“It was Conor’s call, but football was my main thing, and I was trying to make the football team. So I had to take the risk and I was fortunate.”

Walsh was on the Cork senior panel all last year, but only really made his presence felt this summer. The task now, as it is for all his Cork team-mates, is to build on the 2010 success.

“Last year for me was a great learning curve because I was only 19. I learned off the older fellas like Nicholas Murphy, Derek Kavanagh and Graham Canty. I am learning off them the whole time, and a lot of this year is after happening because of that.

“This year myself and Nicholas were rooming together any time we went away. He would talk to me every time we went away. He would talk about finals they have lost and when they came so close and the bad times down through the years. It is amazing really to understand what it mean to them.

“I don’t know about Conor (Counihan), but hopefully he’ll stay on. We know what we have to do next year, stick to what we’re good at and the game plan and we’ll start training again next year.

“But there are so many great teams out there. There was only a kick of the ball in the semi-final against Dublin and the same against Down.

“Then there is Kerry and Tyrone. There are so many great teams, it’s all on the day. You never know what could happen, look at Down last year and this year. Next year could be the same. A team could come out of nowhere and upset a lot of people.”

Mayo football Horan is new manager

James Horan caused a mild upset last night when he was ratified as the new Mayo senior football manager ahead of the more fancied contender, Tommy Lyons.

Horan, a former Mayo forward and two-time All Star, has no county management experience, but in recent weeks has guided Ballintubber to the Mayo county final for the first time in over 100 years of existence (they will face Castlebar Mitchels).

Both Lyons and Anthony McGarry had also been interviewed by a five-man selection panel charged with finding a successor to John O'Mahony.

Lyons, the former Offaly and Dublin manager, was the early front-runner, but at last night's county board meeting in McHale Park, it was Horan's name that was put forward by the selection committee, and approved by the county board delegates.