McStay’s ‘attitude’ slammed by Walsh
Former Galway boss hits out at his old rival
FORMER Galway manager Kevin Walsh has accused Kevin McStay of ‘arrogance’, when he insisted on shaking hands before the 2017 Connacht final had ended.
McStay’s Roscommon team romped to a shock nine-point win and before the whistle had ended he offered his hand in what Walsh claims was an act of ‘disrespect’, writing in his soon to be published autobiography, ‘The Invisible Game’.
‘I wasn’t impressed when Kevin came up to shake hands with me and left the pitch before the final whistle.
‘It smacked of arrogance and was very dismissive. I said nothing but I wouldn’t forget,’ says Walsh, who made a point of going to greet McStay in the following year’s final when the result was reversed.
‘I didn’t say anything when I shook hands with Kevin after.
‘I didn’t go early, but I can guarantee you it was the first place I was going after the final whistle and it wouldn’t always be.
‘Whether by accident or design, he had shown disrespect to Galway 12 months previously in doing something you never see in the GAA, shaking hands before the final whistle and leaving early,’ claims Walsh.
And the two-time All-Ireland winner Walsh also labels the decision to allow Croke Park becomes Dublin’s home stadium as ‘scandalous.’
Walsh’s Galway team lost in both the league final and All-Ireland semi-final in 2018 to the Dubs, and he claims it gives the champions a ‘six to eight-point advantage’ in every game.
‘It beggars belief that you would hand such an advantage to a team in the marquee competition.
‘I would categorise it as a six-toeight-point advantage.
‘Croke Park is the national stadium for all counties, paid for by the members in a variety of ways and by taxpayers of the country through State funding.
‘It is scandalous that it is used to give one county a massive advantage,’ said Walsh, who added that All-Ireland semi-finals involving Dublin should be taken out of headquarters.
‘The final will always be in Croke Park, but if Dublin didn’t play as often there, the advantage could be reduced to some extent. I certainly think they could play a semi-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, for example.
‘If the GAA cares about equity, it is something they will look at,’ added Walsh.
Not surprisingly, Walsh also hits out at his former player Eamon O’Hara, who created waves when he used his role as a first-time pundit on RTE’s Sunday Game to call on Walsh to step down as Sligo manager following the Yeats County’s shock defeat by London in 2013.
‘His desire to make an impact, it seemed to me, coupled with a bruised ego perhaps, wiped the memory of how highly he rated me and my man-management skills from his hard drive evidently.
‘He was given a forum to launch a volley of baseless bulls**t surrounding our preparation and tactics and he grabbed it with both hands.
‘It was staggering to be honest, from someone who hadn’t been in the camp all year, but then that was clearly the problem,’ said Walsh, who claims that former All-Star O’Hara had misinformed the public by claiming he had been ‘cut’ from the panel when he had made the decision to leave.
‘Eamonn needed to show his commitment because he had missed a lot of sessions previously due to work and other issues.
‘Primarily this was about showing his teammates he was all-in, and allowing someone waltz in two months after all of them could not be countenanced.
‘We had no pedestals Created waves: Eamon O’Hara for anyone. ‘That was the last conversation I had with Eamonn. ‘I never heard from him again. So, he was never cut from the panel. He just opted not to come in.’ And Walsh, who retired from playing in 2004, is also withering in his assessment of two of RTE’s best known football pundits. ‘What is astounding is that the likes of Colm O’Rourke and Pat Spillane are still doing analysis on games now, when they were already showing their lack of knowledge in my days as a player.’
‘It was staggering to be honest’