Tommy Walsh has been included in the Munster panel.
By Cian O'Connell
Tommy Walsh will be involved with Munster in the Inter-Provincial Football series.
Munster manager Ger O'Sullivan confirmed that Walsh, who left the Kerry panel following the Allianz Football League, is in the southern squad.
Several Kerry players are unavailable due to a trip to New York, but Aidan O'Mahony is remaining in Ireland and will captain Munster.
"This year the one obstacle we have is that Kerry are in New York that weekend for a fundraiser," O'Sullivan said.
"But at the same time Aidan O’Mahony was captain last year and when I asked Aidan about it he said it was clashing with New York , but he rang me back 10 days ago and said he was up for it and he’ll be captain.
"We have Tommy Walsh also from Kerry, Tommy wasn’t part of the Kerry Championship panel, but he was there for the National League. He’s good; he’s playing good club football."
Munster manager Ger O Sullivan.
O'Sullivan feels Walsh is in a good position to get back into the Kerry fold in the coming years. "I think he is actually, it’s a very tight line between being on the team and being off the panel in any county," O'Sullivan commented. "I was involved with Cork for 10 years and it was the same in Cork.
"I think that maybe when he came back from Australia he was brought into the panel maybe too soon. All players should be allowed to get back with their clubs for maybe 12 months and then challenge for a position on the county panel. I think he still has a lot to offer."
Tipperary's Evan Comerford, Alan Campbell, Bill Maher, Michael Quinlivan, and Conor Sweeney are all included in the panel.
O'Sullivan also revealed that Clare's Gary Brennan will feature despite his club hurling commitments with Ballyea.
"From Clare we have Gary who’d been tremendous, Gary has been a great supporter and I thought this year after Ballyea winning the club hurling championship that he might need a break, because he was going back to the club again for league semi-finals, but he said he wants to play.
"So Gary is there from Clare with Jamie Malone, David Tubridy, Keelin Sexton, Kevin Hartnett. He was one of the best full-backs in Munster this year if not the best, and Eoin Cleary.
"From Limerick then we have Ian Corbett, who was there last year and Darragh Treacy.
Aidan O Mahony will captain Munster.
"From Waterford we have Paul Whyte and Thomas O’Gorman. He played in Mallow last Sunday and marked the Gooch and I thought he did quite well in a difficult day for the Nire.
"From Cork we have Kevin and Colm O’Driscoll, Conor Dorman, Ruairi Deane, and Tom Clancy. I can show you some of the text messages from some of the guys saying ‘no problem, what do I have to do, I’ll be there and I’d love to play.’
"That’s excellent and no different to any year, and that’s one of the reasons why I’ll stay involved as long as they want me, because of the excitement.
"Last year Peter Acheson was on our panel and it gave him that bit of extra confidence to say ‘yeah, I am one of the best players in Munster and in Ireland,’ and he proved it in the championship. Unfortunately he’s in Dubai.
"In the backroom team I have Dr. Dave Geaney from Kerry, Declan Browne and Dr. Con Murphy from Cork.
"Dr. Con is tremendous around players and in that type of atmosphere it’s like a Sigerson weekend. He has huge experience in the game and huge respect for players, so we have a good setup. Again I have to say we’ve had huge support from the Munster council and anything we wanted was available."
