Fans will have to give Walsh time to adjust, says O’Shea

Expecting Tommy Walsh to hit the ground running for All-Ireland champions Kerry this year is unrealistic, believes his club manager at Kerins O’Rahillys, Barry O’Shea.

Ex-AFL star Walsh made his return to club colours at the weekend but All-Ireland winner O’Shea cautioned patience will be required from the unforgiving Kerry faithful.

“Kerry supporters are extremely tough and are very hard on their players and that comes from years and years of having top class players. That has its positives too because it keeps the players under pressure all the time but fans will have to be realistic. Turning up supremely fit is not enough, and Tommy will have to get a run of games and training, and being back in the Kerry environment, with top players and it will come, slowly.

“Kerry fans must not be critical of Tommy because they could well be eulogising him later on in the summer, if not in February and March. He did have a back problem on Saturday night, after picking up a knock training with Kerry so he probably wasn’t going at full tilt so Tommy will be huge asset to club and county for many years to come.”

O’Shea added: “He needs time for his touch to come back, and nuances of the game that perhaps five years ago came naturally to him, he has probably lost. People think that Aussie Rules is the same game but it is a totally different sport really. He has to train his brain and his body, to play a professional game for the past five years in Australia but now he has to reverse the process, reboot his Gaelic Football brain to get used to a different game, with different rules and played with a different shaped ball.

“He is now back playing a game where there is no tackle (like AFL), when you win possession, you are expected to move away with the ball, when you field a high ball, there is no mark, all differences that Tommy will have to get used to, and at the highest level, when playing with Kerry. But there are things that Tommy has learnt in the professional game that will hopefully make him a better player in the future and also help lads in his club and with his county.”

O’Shea, an All-Ireland medal winner himself with Kerry at minor, U-21 and Senior, believes Walsh’s transition back into playing football to the standards he set himself in 2009, before leaving, is as much mental as physical. “I also think any mistakes Tommy makes will be magnified in terms of the expectation levels. Others players will be making mistakes but they wont be magnified or mentioned as much, so I think he will have to be mentally tough and get used to criticisms, early on. I think it’s the mental processes he will need to hone as his skill levels were always top class, but he must learn to think differently on a GAA pitch”.