Why Walsh savours Killarney

AIDAN WALSH was hooked from the start. From his home in Kanturk, he can reach Fitzgerald Stadium in less than an hour and, growing up, there was plenty mystique surrounding Cork and Kerry football clashes in Killarney.

He has vivid memories of being carted off for Munster senior championship matches, yet it is a day when the rain teemed down in June 2002 he remembers most rather than any sun-drenched afternoons.

The hostelries in Killarney had been packed earlier that day as the images were transmitted from Suwon where Ireland and Spain were slugging it out in the World Cup. After Ireland’s penalty shoot-out defeat, a scrappy Munster semi-final clash ensued amidst torrential downpours with the teams tied at 0-8 apiece at the finish. But, for the 12 year-old Walsh, the absence of fireworks on the pitch did not matter when he secured a cherished memento at the final whistle.