Frankie a true Déise hero

JUST imagine what it is like to be singled out on a regular basis as being the last man to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup for your county.

As great an honour it was for Frankie Walsh in 1959, when Waterford triumphed over Kilkenny after the last drawn All-Ireland hurling final, it does get a little tiresome.

I remember asking a similar question of the late Enda Colleran (Galway’s winning captain in 1965 and ‘66) prior to the football final of 1998 — a year, incidentally, Frankie believes the Déise could have made a breakthrough. His response was: “It would be a monkey off his back,” and it was when Ray Silke brought the Sam west after a 32-year wait.