Walsh feels he must put hurling on long finger

It is a box he says he will tick one day but, for now, Aidan Walsh is content to knock back the opportunity to play senior hurling for Cork.

The talented dual player revealed he was approached about joining up with Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s hurling panel for 2013. But it was surely no great surprise to the hurling management that after a season which yielded his second football All Star award, he politely declined.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one, and with Eoin Cadogan making the decision to terminate his dual status and stick solely with football, hurling has been dealt some big hits.

From Walsh’s perspective, balancing the two codes at the highest level without one or other suffering, is virtually impossible.

He says he watched Cadogan coming “crippled” to county training in recent seasons and reckons “he wasn’t doing himself justice”.

Funnily enough, while he wasn’t exactly surprised to hear of Cadogan’s news, he says the fact the Douglas man chose football and not hurling was unexpected.

“He wasn’t getting 100% out of either of them so, I suppose he’s made a good decision this year to choose one,” said Walsh.

“In my own opinion, I thought he would have picked hurling. But I’m delighted he picked football. We’re lucky this year because we’ve also got Damien Cahalane. He’s one of the finest footballers in Cork.

“It’s a good boost for Cork football and it’s exciting times at the moment, being able to have everyone behind the cause.”

It is generally accepted that football represents the stronger draw in Cork right now, offering talented players a better chance of serious silverware. After all, the footballers will begin the league campaign on Saturday week as defending champions with dreams of a remarkable four titles in a row.

Walsh revealed that his own decision to stick with football is a little more complicated though, and not just down to gambling on which will yield the greater dividend at season’s end.

“I’ve always asked myself would I be able for it [dual status],” continued the Kanturk man. “One thing that set me back from trying to do it is being from an intermediate club.

“I play with my division in senior hurling and football so that’s two extra teams that Eoin didn’t have growing up and that always held me back from trying to do both.”

Some day, Walsh will pursue the hurling angle.

“Definitely, I’d love to have a cut off it if they would still like me,” he said. “Growing up, I’ve always loved hurling and when I was a minor, hurling was my number one. I probably would have picked hurling at the time but winning the U21 [football] All-Ireland in ’09, just coming out of minor, that’s what swayed me towards football.

“I was approached about hurling this year but I said to myself straight away that football was going to be number one again.”

The principle reason for sticking with the status quo, and football, was the desire to atone for defeat to Donegal in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

“Last year it was disappointing to finish the way we did,” he said. “You have regrets and you have things you want to improve on so you just want to focus on football this year.”

The long road back to the summit of the championship begins on Saturday week, with a high-profile Allianz League opener against Dublin at Croke Park. Walsh will still be a relatively experienced player when he looks around the dressing room on February 2.

“It’s my fifth year on the panel now,” he explained. “Since I first went in, John Miskella, Anthony Lynch and Nicholas Murphy are gone.

“Fellas move on and the senior players now are Kerrigan and Goulding and Shields and them boys. The years don’t be long going and we’ll have to step up now and get the younger fellas coming in under our wing, give them advice.”

Away from Cork, Walsh is hoping to be involved with star-studded DCU in this year’s Sigerson Cup.

He was before the Disputes Resolution Authority last night, arguing against the rule that currently precludes him from lining out for the college.

It states players such as Walsh, who have enrolled in at least twoprevious courses, can’t play college football.

The outcome is expected to be made public today.