Tommy Walsh still charmed by unloved interprovincial games

The winner of five interprovincial medals, Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh has pleaded with the GAA to stick with the long-standing competition.

Only 100 people turned up in Semple Stadium for last Sunday’s Munster-Ulster semi-final, which hosts this evening’s final (Munster v Leinster, 7.45pm throw-in).

Whatever about how the competition is promoted, Walsh reckons players are still “having a ball” playing it and believes more would be getting involved in it but for the demands of their counties.

“Back in the day when the Railway Cup was going really well, I’d say teams went back training in March, April, May whereas now you’ve guys training in November and December trying to get everything right. Everything is geared towards the small percentage to win a match.

“Then throw in the club championships, which are just as important. Like, they’re so serious now that from a spectator’s point of view it’s probably going to be hard to reinvent it but it should definitely be left there because the players for one don’t get to meet each other that often.

“And when you get to meet players from other counties on a Railway Cup competition it’s brilliant because you get to, I suppose tell stories, see how each other are preparing yourselves. It’s good because instead of tearing lumps out of each other every Sunday, you get to play with them for once.”

Walsh doesn’t know what can be done to re-ignite the concept. All he knows is he loved playing for his province, just as his younger brother Pádraic did last Saturday, impressing for Leinster against Connacht. The older Tullaroan sibling says: “As I always said, I didn’t just play hurling for the big days — I loved every day and January and February were brilliant because you’d matches every single weekend.

“Throw in the Railway Cup, whether it was in November or February or March, I just loved going out and hurling and I enjoyed hurling with the guys from the other counties and I met great friends through the Railway Cup with hurlers I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to do otherwise. So I’d love to play the Railway Cup every year it was on and I’m sure the players today are still the same.”

Regarding Kilkenny, Walsh says people should temper their expectations of the current crop and not compare them to Brian Cody’s previous glittering teams.

“The big mistake a lot of people make is trying to judge Kilkenny on will they win a few All-Irelands in a row, will they be great? When we were all starting, there was none of that kind of talk. It was ‘can you make the team first?’ and ‘can you win the All-Ireland?’

“We should go back to judging this current crop on that because when we were coming to the end of our careers it was all these boys who were winning the All-Irelands for us. If you go back, Walter Walsh, Kieran Joyce, Richie Hogan, TJ Reid were phenomenal in All-Ireland finals for us.

“It’s a different era because most of the players that were there for the four-in-a-row have now gone but the boys there now have two or three All-Irelands together. You look at any era and winning two or three All-Irelands is very difficult to do. There are great teams that have won only two All-Irelands. It would probably be better if we judge them against themselves rather than winning multiple All-Irelands.”

Walsh knows the Cats are in good hands as long as Cody remains at the helm.

“We’re lucky that Brian Cody, like Alex Ferguson and every great manager, is not just looking at now. They’re looking at building down the line and if you look at any of the hurlers like myself, Henry (Shefflin), Jackie (Tyrrell) or Larks (Eoin Larkin) come the end of our careers he wasn’t afraid to drop us or take us off or not pick us. He was thinking of Kilkenny and the future and I think as long as he stays doing that we’ll be in a great position.

“We would be in a much more difficult position if we had a manager there who was keeping onto the same guys all of the time. Then we could be talking about ‘will it all collapse?’ I think if the management team stays looking at the future like that Kilkenny should be in a good position.”