Walsh rises to new challenges

The conversation did not flow easily in Colin Lane’s car on March 3.

There was little chat from his front seat passenger, Aidan Walsh, as the Cork football physiotherapist navigated the 323km trek from Leeside to a Sligo hotel where Conor Counihan’s squad were based ahead of a League date with Donegal.

Having endured the misery of Cork IT’s Fitzgibbon Cup decider loss to bitter rivals UCC by a point after extra-time, Walsh’s silence was understandable as they left the Mardyke.

He recalled: “It was great of Colin to stick around to take me up to Sligo but I wasn’t in the best of form going up in the car. To lose by a point was very tough to take. And it was worse again because we’d lost the Cork final by the same margin.”

Walsh has carved his national reputation as a footballer yet hurling is a game he refuses to quit. Towards the end of last year Walsh got talking to former Cork All-Ireland winning defender Pat Mulcahy, who takes charge of CIT’s Fitzgibbon Cup teams. They agreed that he would be kept in mind when it came to selecting a side for college hurling in the spring. By the time CIT got to the Fitzgibbon Cup weekend Walsh was on board, but the story didn’t have a happy ending.

But his football commitments the next day meant Walsh had little time to wallow in the defeat. He ended up starting the following day against Donegal, raising Cork’s first white flag of the game but ultimately succumbing as the Rebels’ scoring well ran dry in the second-half.

Walsh’s motivation to display commitment towards the Cork cause that weekend was fuelled by what the team management had done for him. The Kanturk man turned 22 on January 23 last and while he may have swept up a hoard of silverware from his GAA career to date, there have been sacrifices needed to make that happen. Watching friends from college spend summers in the coastal cities of America created Walsh’s own desire to travel. Last December he seized that chance.

“The last few years have been very busy with the GAA and it’s been tough to try to go for a break. You’d see a load of friends going away on J1s and wonder are you missing out on it. You don’t want to look back and regret not ever going for an opportunity like that. My cousins are over in Australia and I hadn’t seen them in a long time. So I talked to Conor (Counihan) about having a break in January and he had no problem. It was expensive but brilliant and well worth it for the craic.”

He flew to Perth on December 28 with a couple of friends from home and rang in the New Year with a group that included Cork teammate Ciaran Sheehan. In early January they flew to Cairns, rented a mini-van and snaked down along the eastern coast of Australia for a few weeks. Savouring the weather and enjoying the down time. It was difficult to escape GAA entirely though.

“I was in a hostel one day and bumped into Bernard Brogan by chance. It turned out he was doing the same trip as us so we met him in a lot of places going down the coast. We’d been on the same All Stars trip together in Malaysia at the end of 2010. He’s a fierce nice fella and it was great to get to know him. It’s one thing I like to do, getting to know lads off the field that you’d be in opposition to on the field. The Cork boys would be slagging me about it. But I’d use those trips as a chance to talk to and get to know other players. For the International Rules trip, I got to know the Donegal lads Michael Murphy and Karl Lacey very well, and also Brendan Murphy from Carlow. It was great.”

The break did him well and he relished the chance to ply his trade with Cork when the league commenced in February. There has been novelty for Walsh this spring as well in being shunted into a full-forward role. He had some prior experience of that role with his club Kanturk during their run to the Cork JFC title last year. The night before he jetted off to Australia with the Irish International Rules squad, Kanturk played Bandon in a county semi-final and the game turned on a few classy points Walsh scored when stationed at the edge of the square.

“I’ve enjoyed being in there with Cork. The one thing I’ve learned is to know what kind of runs forwards make and the kind of ball that they like. It helps me then when you’re back out playing midfield when you’re delivering passes in.”

Tomorrow’s league final against Mayo in Croke Park offers a platform to shine. Then there is his club’s historic first appearance in the Cork intermediate football championship ahead. For Walsh there are challenges everywhere he looks. And he’s ready to embrace them all with enthusiasm.