AIL champion Walsh still beating drum for club game

In the end, he departed without fuss. Brian Walsh was never afraid to raise his head above the parapet during his time as Cork Constitution head coach, but when it came to stepping away, it happened so quietly many didn’t realise until they noticed his absence from the sideline in the club’s opening Ulster Bank League fixtures.

The former Munster full-back was an occasional thorn in the IRFU’s side, frustrated by the All-Ireland League’s position as Irish rugby’s problem child in the professional era. He’s still interested to see where it will fit in the national structure as a development tool down the line: “It’s still riddled with issues,” he admits.

Walsh also crafted three different Con eras in a 10-year stint, eight of those as head coach, winning silverware with each and always playing attractive rugby before letting Tom Mulcahy, Mick O’Driscoll and Terry Dillon take the reins: “There were numerous factors in my decision. I’d been there a long time, we’d been successful and I felt it needed a freshness. The timing was right and there were good candidates available.

“In stepping away, I felt there’d be a big void in terms of time commitment, but I have a busy job, my own kids are getting to an age where they’re playing games on a Saturday and Sunday and I obviously want to get along to more of those, and have that time that I won’t get again.

“I’m hugely interested in player development, so I’m still working with the Con U20s and the PBC seniors. I enjoy the time on the park coaching, but the job in Con had grown to such a level where I was doing less coaching and more managing. That competitive edge that used to come on a Saturday morning, that adrenaline rush. Yes I miss it, but I’m going to spend some time now looking at the attacking side of the game, the development of back play. I’m looking forward to working with some younger players in that regard.”

Unless you’re Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, eight years is a long time in one coaching job but Walsh continually tried to reinvent himself to prevent things getting stale for him or his players.

“Your shelf life? I think that’s up to the coach. If I was the same coach as I was 10 years ago, life would have got very boring for everybody.

“Games are always evolving, doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing. It was another reason for stepping away; I want to progress myself personally as a coach. Once you stop doing that, if you have nothing new to bring, that’s your shelf life. Players need to be challenged constantly.”

He might be an interested spectator at today’s ODM Munster Senior Cup quarter-final clash as Con continue their title defence against Midleton at Temple Hill (2.30pm). Walsh said the competition “lost its way” as priorities shifted towards first the All-Ireland League and subsequently the All-Ireland Cup, but believes the return to using the provincial cups as a qualifier for the Bateman Cup will increase its relevance once more.

“There’s many great years of history in the cup, it’s how many clubs judge themselves and the ‘cup rugby’ style is highly valued in Munster; the benefit of that was certainly seen in the province’s performances in the early years of the Heineken Cup.

“It certainly became diluted, the All-Ireland competitions created a fixtures logjam, and all of a sudden you needed a massive squad to compete on all those fronts and the national competitions took preference. But now you have to win in your province to compete for the national trophy, it’s a much better scenario and that issue has been tidied up well.”