Cats star Walsh hoping history does not repeat itself

PRECISELY 174 days after their last All Ireland hurling final at Croke Park, Kilkenny duo Walter Walsh and John Donnelly will return for another.

The Cats colleagues will be on AIB All-Ireland club final duty with junior hopefuls Tullogher Rosbercon and Thomastown respectively today.

In both cases, they will face Cork opposition.

Walsh lined out in last July’s All-Ireland final defeat by Limerick but will be forever associated with the 1-3 he sniped as a debutant in the 2012 final defeat of Galway.

Mind you, when he returns to Croke Park today, it is the AIB junior club decider of 2009 that his mind will rewind to.

Tullogher Rosbercon also made it to that year’s junior final but came up three points short of another Cork team, Dripsey. They will hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

The Leinster champions’ form-line is positive, trending upwards ever since they captured the county title.

Former Cork dual star and senior hurling manager Denis Walsh is in charge of his native St Catherine’s and will have a plan to prevent more goals going in.

St Catherine’s, worryingly, struggled for scores in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Easkey so will be keen for an improvement on that front.

John Donnelly, Walsh’s Kilkenny colleague, will line out for Thomastown against Castlelyons in the AIB All-Ireland intermediate club decider.

Backboned by some terrific young players, they also have the experience of players like John Donnelly and former Kilkenny senior Jonjo Farrell while captain Stephen Donnelly played briefly for Brian Cody too. Castlelyons have it all to do then but they have shown their resilience.

Four different counties will be represented tomorrow in the AIB All-Ireland club junior and intermediate football finals.

Veteran coach John Evans, in charge of 1996 club senior winners Laune Rangers, returns this time with the Cill na Marta intermediate team. The Cork side clung on last weekend to defeat Castlerea St Kevin’s by a point. Opponents St Patrick’s Cullyhanna are in terrific form.