Nov 21,2024
You might expect Walter Walsh to have a little more time on his hands, now that he has drawn the curtain on 12 years of inter-county hurling with Kilkenny.
But the teacher/dairy farmer's wife Vicky gave birth to twins Charlie and Kate shortly before last week's retirement announcement, and he intends to play on for club Tullogher-Rosbercon until 40 if he can.
The 33-year-old needs a thumb operation, and is still working on the groin injury that kept him out for a couple of months in his final year with the Cats, but he has also picked up the oval ball again, lining out for local rugby club New Ross in the third tier of the Leinster League.
Despite being 6'7 (2.01m), Walsh has been deployed as a full-back rather than catching lineouts.
"I loved rugby and I've been playing with New Ross since I was five. I took a break for a couple of years. I enjoy it, it's something completely different.
"I think I made the right choice with the hurling. I think it would be arrogant of me to say that I could have played for Leinster or Ireland. I don't think that at all. I had a great career playing hurling and I maximised my talent."
Walsh made arguably the greatest inter-county debut in 2012 when he was called in for that year's All-Ireland hurling final replay.
The forward was on the Under-21 team that lost the final to Clare but had never played so much as a league or Walsh Cup minute when he was parachuted in for the senior rematch against Galway.
The then 21-year-old scored 1-03 from corner-forward and was named man of the match in a dream debut as the Cats retained Liam MacCarthy.
"I just remember when my name was announced on the Friday to be starting. Everyone was shocked in the room and so was I," he recalls.
"It was mad, it changed my life in many ways. But it kind of went over my head a bit. Maybe I was lucky I was so young at that time. I think if it happened now with social media and everything, it would have blown out of proportion. Maybe more people recognised me [but] I'd like to think it didn't change me a whole lot.
"Brian Cody is a good man to keep you grounded, that's for sure. The management team that was there wouldn't let anyone get big-headed. They were excellent and looked after me without me knowing they were looking after me."
He went on to win further Celtic crosses in 2014 and '15 - and an All-Star in '16 - as part of Cody's golden era. But though Walsh played for Kilkenny for another eight seasons, he didn't get to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand again, other than with his club in their junior triumph last January.
He admits that there is frustration within hurling's most successful county at the relatively long wait for Liam, but feels that Derek Lyng's five-in-a-row Leinster champions are not too far away from ending it.
"I grew up watching Kilkenny winning All-Irelands and that's what people want and what they were used to.
"They're not far away from winning an All-Ireland. It'd be a different story if they were gone and no longer competing. There's massive talent within the county so I think it won't be long.
"In my first four years, we won three All-Irelands. You maybe think that is going to continue on for your whole career. That wasn't the case, it just shows you how competitive the game is, and will continue to be. But you'd have to be very optimistic for Kilkenny’s chances in the coming years.
"We got beaten in the next four All-Ireland finals after 2015. I suppose, initially I'd be thinking that it would have been great to have won another one, but then you have to be extremely grateful. All-Ireland medals, they're really hard to win."
"Hopefully, I look back on it more with gratitude and pride than saying 'It would've been great if we won '16 or '19, '22 or '23'"
Are there any of those final defeats that stand out as the one that got away?
"I haven't had a whole lot of time to reflect on my career and my hurling, but hopefully I look back on it more with gratitude and pride than saying 'It would've been great if we won '16 or '19, '22 or ’23. I think time will tell with that.
"Limerick beat us in two, Tipp beat us in two as well, and they were deserving winners on those days.
"Every game is different but maybe 2019 [against Tipp]. I thought we were in a great place going into that All-Ireland and maybe that was one. But then Tipperary were brilliant on the day. They beat us by a lot.
"I suppose you look back on those games that you lose the All-Ireland final and say 'I could have done this differently' or ‘If we did that’. But that's sport. You can't do anything about it now."
