Gracious Walsh pays tribute to the victors

KILKENNY don’t usually lose tight games. Not in recent times anyway.

And for a while in the second half of yesterday’s All-Ireland U21 final, as they turned a two-point interval deficit into an equivalent lead, another All-Ireland success seemed inevitable.

That was to reckon without a wonderfully spirited Clare bunch though and the defeated manager Michael Walsh was quick to praise the winners. He also spoke highly of his own bunch of players.

“I never thought we had it won because we were never far enough ahead to have it won. We couldn’t push out to three or four points. Our lads played fantastic in the second half, I couldn’t be prouder of them.

“But the ball just wouldn’t go over the bar for us and if the ball doesn’t go over the bar, you leave the other team off. I give Clare full credit. They battled away and got great scores and they were more economical with their possession.

“It was always a tough, tight game. I thought we had the upper hand in the second half but they got the scores when it counted and we didn’t press home the advantage when we had it.”

The former Kilkenny netminder admitted that Donal Tuohy’s astounding save from Richie Hogan was probably the seminal moment in the game. A goal at that stage might have swung matters inexorably in Kilkenny’s way.

“Our goalkeeper brought off two great saves and then their ‘keeper made an outstanding save at a vital stage. It was a fantastic save. That’s what wins All-Irelands.”

Some Kilkenny supporters were claiming that John Joe Farrell might have been fouled in the large parallelogram with time almost up but Walsh wasn’t keen to commit himself one way or the other in that regard.

“I don’t know. It was very hard to see where I was. I was just watching John Joe and willing him to get through. The next minute, he’s on the ground. But it’s a very tough call for us to make on the line.”

He’s not sure if he will be in charge next year, explaining that the county board make the appointment on an annual basis.

He reckoned that around six players will be available in 2010 but argued that this didn’t necessarily mean that they would be contenders.

All he could think about was this final anyway. He had expected Clare to play with fire and passion and was in no way taken aback by their ability, having been impressed with their semi-final defeat of fancied Galway unit.

“Everyone tipped Clare to win today and I wasn’t a bit surprised by them. I was just disappointed that we didn’t take those chances in the second half when we were playing well. We played brilliantly in the second half, they took their chances and they deserved their victory and fair play to them.”