Westmeath hurlers rising to new levels

Michael Walsh enjoyed the two-hour drive back to Dicksboro on Wednesday night week last.

Well, enjoyed it as much as he could. Having won two All-Ireland medals in the black and amber, his heart will forever be Kilkenny’s, but his hurling brain is currently on loan to Westmeath. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t take satisfaction from the county’s shock Leinster U21 quarter-final win against the Cats.

Walsh has been making the four-hour round trip to Mullingar for some 17 months now. Westmeath County Board chairman Sean Sheridan and secretary James Savage got in touch in November 2014 to inquire whether the former Kilkenny goalkeeper would join the Westmeath management team they were putting together. Newly appointed manager Michael Ryan was next to call. Walsh had been out of the inter-county scene since stepping down as Kilkenny U21 boss in 2011, but he was intrigued.