Walsh relishing unexpected big club date at GAA HQ

These things, they tend to matter more towards the end than at the beginning.

The last chapters of Tommy Walsh’s extraordinary career were playing out around the highroads and byroads of club football in Kerry. For that is the way such careers are meant to spin away.

Of course, the ambition is always there to win a county championship. Maybe get a few more big days out at Austin Stack Park or Fitzgerald Stadium.

But Kerins O’Rahilly’s 2022 county championship campaign unravelled quickly with three consecutive defeats last September.

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However, courtesy of Kerry’s somewhat convoluted system, the Strand Road outfit found themselves representing the county in the Munster club SFC due to a combination of winning the local club championship and divisional side East Kerry claiming the county championship.

Just before Christmas they played in the provincial final. It was only the second time in the club’s history to contest a Munster club SFC decider. Walsh missed the first in 2009 as he was in Australia, at the outset of his Aussie Rules career. The Tralee side lost that one to Kilmurry-Ibrickane.

But last month, Walsh was plundering all before him in Mallow, his goal at the start of the second half proving to be a pivotal score in the Munster decider against Newcastle West. Just moments later the powerful full forward laid on a goal for Barry John Keane – and a first ever title was on its way to Strand Road.

This Sunday, for a man who has played in some of the world’s most iconic venues, Walsh gets to fulfil another personal ambition at Croke Park.

“I didn’t think I’d get to play there again, maybe for one of those charity games or something like that, but certainly not competitively,” says Walsh.

“And particularly with my club, it is a huge chance for us and something I am really looking forward to, going there with a Kerins O’Rahilly’s jersey on is going to be a special feeling and one of my best sporting days, certainly.”

He will turn 35 next month and his last appearance at the venue was in Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone in 2021. It will be his first time running out there with the club.

But, while Walsh is excited about the prospect, there were some reservations in Tralee about the choice of venue for their AIB All-Ireland club semi-final against Kilmacud Crokes.

Not only are the Stillorgan outfit obviously geographically closer, but they have also played regularly at GAA Headquarters in recent times – including for their Leinster semi-final and final at the end of last year.

“It’s obviously a location advantage for them. We are going to have to travel up the night before, which is something a lot of our players won’t be used to,” adds Walsh.

“But, look, everybody grows up wanting to play in Croke Park and it is a huge chance for fellas that have never played there before. So, while it might be an advantage for them, in a certain respect we’d be hoping our guys will lift their game with the fact they are playing there.”

In the second round of the club championship in Kerry last August, Walsh suffered a knee injury and did not play again until the club final in October. He missed the entire county championship.

“The body is okay, as okay as your body can be in your mid-30s,” he smiles. “To get a run like this at the tail end of my career, it’s great. There are aches and pains that you might not have had a few years ago but I’m enjoying it, you enjoy it a lot more at this stage of your career.”

His hulking presence on the edge of the square wreaked havoc during the Munster campaign. How Kerry fans must wonder what it would have been like to see both Walsh and David Clifford playing up top together in their prime. And while some in the Kingdom might argue that Walsh, who retired at the end of 2021, could still do a job for the county, the man himself is content with his lot.

“No, I had my time there. Really enjoyed it, I had a lot of good days and bad days, but my time was done,” he says.

“It’s easy to kind of look at a club game and see a big full forward in there and think he could do it at intercounty, but it doesn’t really work like that any longer.

“There are so many more facets to it, you need to be able to get through the week in order to contribute on game-day and that’s something I felt I probably wasn’t able to do any longer.

“Of course, after the All-Ireland final last year there is a little bit of a feeling, ‘Jeez, I would love to have been there’. Everybody is going to experience that when you finish playing, it’s only natural.

“But my overwhelming feeling was that I was just so happy for the lads because I had seen the work they had put in over the previous couple of years.”

Sunday: AIB All-Ireland club senior football semi-final: Kerins O’Rahilly’s (Kerry) v Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin), Croke Park, 1.30pm (Live on TG4)