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Donnchadh Walsh: 'Dublin are always at the back of our minds'

Donnchadh Walsh

Donnchadh Walsh

​By Paul Keane

Donnchadh Walsh has admitted that it would be easy for he and his Kerry football colleagues to become 'obsessed' with the challenge of reeling in Dublin, their nemesis and back to back All-Ireland champions.

That's a statement that Walsh mightn't have expected to ever make, particularly in 2009 when a year after his Championship debut the Kingdom beat Dublin by 17 points, extending their summer domination of the Sky Blues to over 30 years.

Since then, Dublin have won every Championship meeting between the counties, beating Kerry in the 2011 and 2015 All-Ireland finals as well as in semi-finals in 2013 and 2016. Four Allianz league title wins on the trot was sealed by Dublin last spring when they overcame Kerry again in the final.

Kerry will be without veteran defender Aidan O'Mahony this year as they attempt to reassert their own authority though, according to Walsh, will be able to call upon iconic attackers Kieran Donaghy and Colm Cooper who had been considering retirement.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice's panel are already energised and focused if their McGrath Cup final success last weekend with a strong team is anything to go by and their long-term challenge is clear; to reel in the Dubs.

"It is very easy to become obsessed with them," acknowledged Walsh. "Every night you go out for training you could just totally focus on them. But we've the first round of the Allianz league against Donegal coming up in Letterkenny and if you're not 100 per cent focused on that game you'll be getting a hiding up there.

"They are always going to be at the back of our minds, Dublin, 100 per cent, and they have been since we lost the semi-final to them last year. That's grand, they can stay there at the back of our minds until they need to be at the front of our minds."

Allianz

Allianz

Walsh admitted the Kerry players are wary that Dublin have consistently finished stronger than them in big games, indicating a physical and mental edge that Jim Gavin's group possess.

"Yeah, it is something that we're looking at that we want to rectify, that we should be finishing the game a lot stronger," said the Cromane man. "Dublin seem to have that. They're able to make chances, they're bringing on substitutes to impact more on the game than what we've been able to do. There's so little between the top four or five counties in the country that it does come down to those last few moments of games, in the last few minutes. It's definitely a big talking point and definitely something we'll be working on throughout the year."

The apparent availability of the 'Gooch' and Donaghy, who possess nine All-Ireland senior medals between them, should help Kerry's cause.

"They're definitely back as far as I can see," said Walsh. "You don't like that uncertainty so it is a good boost, yeah."

O'Mahony is gone though, joining Marc O Se in opting out for 2017. Walsh said he was surprised by O'Mahony's departure.

"Yeah, because I've met him in the gym the last couple of weeks and he's obviously still in incredible shape and it looked like he was maintaining it to give it another year so it's a bit of a surprise alright," he said.

"He probably had made his mind up a while ago. I'm not too sure what his thinking process around it was but physically he could have given it another year but obviously you need to be fully committed to it mentally as well."

Walsh said there wasn't much of a decision to make about his own future despite turning 33 next summer and continuing to cover well over 10 kilometres per game in his role as a hard running half-forward.

"I think it's around the 12, 13 kilometres mark if I can actually stay on the field for 70 minutes!" he smiled. "The fitness of fellas is getting better every year. The standard is going that way, one direction. There's probably another half a kilometre there next year maybe."

  • “In attendance at the 2017 Allianz Football League Launch in Croke Park was Donnchadh Walsh of Kerry and Jonny Cooper of Dublin. Kerry face Donegal in the opening round of the Allianz Leagues while All-Ireland champions Dublin will begin their Allianz league defence against Cavan, both on February 5th at 2pm. This year, Allianz celebrates 25 years of sponsoring the Allianz Leagues. Visit www.allianz.ie for more.”**