Fitting tribute to a great

TG4’s Laochra Gael focus on Tommy Walsh during the week made for quality television.

I feature on the one episode of the show that hasn’t been watched in my house – which tells you what my young lads think.

They are such fans of one of Kilkenny’s modern greats. We won a minor championship last year and I got Tommy down to present the medals. He was such a big hit with everyone in the room.

Watching the other night brought back such personal memories, the 2009 All-Ireland final the same day that my late wife Edel went into hospital with a temperature.

I was commentating on the game which tells you how innocent we thought it all was. I went in to the hospital afterwards, nobody thinking that pneumonia would claim Edel’s life that same September after her battle with cancer.

Tommy’s gesture in sending his famous red helmet down to our house was a measure of the man. It made him a hero in the Duignan household and I’d say my Sean wore it out.

A great programme on a great man.