Hurler, Walter Walsh of Tullogher Rosbercon pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Club Hurling All-Ireland Junior Championship Final, between St Catherines and Tullogher Rosbercon. This season, AIB will honour #TheToughest players in Gaelic Games - those who persevere no matter what, giving their all for their club and community. AIB its 33rd year supporting the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
15 years later, Walter Walsh has second chance for All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling glory with Tullogher Rosbercon.
In 2009 he was a whipper-snapper of a 17-year-old when his club played Dripsey of Cork in the AIB Junior Club Championship Final and travelled to Croke Park with expectation in his heart.
And why wouldn’t he, when everything he touched in those days seemed to turn to gold on a hurling pitch.
He was a late draftee into the Kilkenny minor hurling panel in May 2008 to cover for some of the older players in the panel who were doing their Leaving Cert.
Walsh did so well he was a starter by the time Kilkenny defeated Galway in the All-Ireland Final in September.
After that he was called up to the Tullogher Rosbercon senior team for the latter stages of the Kilkenny championship and promptly helped them win county and Leinster titles.
“I thought this hurling thing is great, you win all the time,” says Walsh with a wry smile now.
“I found out in 2009 that it’s not like that because I ended up losing three All-Ireland Finals that year, the first of them with Tullogher.”
Dripsey beat them by three points in that All-Ireland Final, and despite all Walsh has won as a senior inter-county hurler with Kilkenny since, that defeat still stings.
Which is why the chance to play in another AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Final on Saturday against Cork opposition once again in the shape of St. Catherine’s is an opportunity he’s very keen to make the most of.
“In 2009 I was corner-forward and I didn't have my best game ever,” he recalls.
“When I look back now you might appreciate it that bit more, these finals don't come around too often and I think mentally you'd be in a better place to prepare for it, even just knowing the significance of it. It does hit home a bit more as you get a bit older.
“The main objective this year was obviously to win the county final and get up to the Intermediate grade.
“But, I suppose, one thing in my head after the celebrations was that 15 years ago we lost an All-Ireland Final and it would be great to get back and play in Croke Park with your club.
“It was a massive occasion that time but, at the end of the day, it's all about winning that game when you're there.”
Tullogher Rosbercon celebrate after winning the 2023 Kilkenny Junior Hurling Final.
Along with veteran centre-back, Pat Hartley, Walsh is one of just two survivors from that 2009 defeat who will start Saturday’s Final against St. Catherines.
The likes of Donncha O’Connor, Conor Hennessy, and Cian O’Donoghue are also pretty experienced, but by and large this is a very youthful Tullogher-Rosbercon panel.
Many of them were part of the club’s first ever minor team to reach an ‘A’ Final in 2021 when they were beaten by a point by Dicksboro.
Walsh has been a mentor to many of them both on and off the pitch. A science and biology teacher in Good Counsel College in nearby New Ross, he estimates he has taught around 15 or 16 of his team-mates in recent years and knew that good days might be ahead for the club.
“I'm here six years and I could see a lot of these lads that are really, really talented. They're all on the teams here, and it's hard to make a team in Good Counsel, hurling or football. There’s loads of Tullogher Rosbercon lads on teams now whereas when I was here as a pupil there wasn't many of us at all on teams.
“So I could see talent coming. I knew it was coming, but it's great to see the proof of it by winning a county final and going to play in an All-Ireland Final now on Saturday.”
Walsh is too polite to tell you whether the team-mates he’s taught are more inclined to listen to him on the hurling pitch than in the class-room, but it certainly makes for an interesting double-life at times.
“It's a weird dynamic,” he says. “Even this year there's two, Niall Mooney and Marty Murphy, who are sixth years here in the school.
“You're winning county finals with these lads and you're training with them. They definitely see a different side to me in the class-room and on the field because you're training and trying to relax and it's a bit of fun and a bit of craic whereas in here you have to be a bit more professional.
“I'd say they're kind of looking at me and thinking does this lad have two different personalities or what's going on. But you have to be professional and treat those lads the same as all the other students. You're here in school to do a job, to educate, and outside of school you're a normal person and maybe the lads might struggle to see that as well.
“Even last year's crop of sixth years, I think I was teaching six or seven of the lads who are on the club team as well. It is strange, but if we win on Saturday it won't be strange at all, we'll enjoy it.”