You want to win Sam – that’s were it starts and finishes in Kerry
CROMANE’S future generation of footballers got a pleasant surprise as they gathered for training last Sunday morning. An unexpected visitor hopped over the wall at the end of the field and loped across it in that familiar stride of his.
In a place like Cromane, a rural fishing village of 800 people off the Ring of Kerry, it’s impossible for the young not to meet their hero – especially when his home backs onto the pitch. Donnchadh Walsh grew up next to the local GAA field and is often spotted there, with one of his four brothers, practising his skills.
‘You could literally throw a stone from Donnchadh’s garden and it would end up on the pitch. He never had an excuse for missing training,’ says former Kerry footballer and fellow Cromane native Seán O’Sullivan.
Even in a county brimming with natural splendour, the village stands out enough for Lonely Planet to list it among the world’s 50 top places off the beaten track. Understandable given it is planted between two scenic peninsulas, Dingle to the north and Iveragh to the west.
The club was only founded in November 1983 and play in Division 5, the basement of Kerry football. But in the past decade and a half, they have punched above their weight, producing two county men: O’Sullivan and now Walsh.
‘That’s important for youngsters around here. They can see that even though we are a small club, there is no reason you can’t play for Kerry, if you are good enough,’ explains O’Sullivan.
Lots of ingredients have gone into making Kerry the aristocrats but one significant reason that’s often ignored is that no footballer is left behind.
‘In other counties, it might be unusual that a player from a Junior B club ends up with the county,’ Walsh says. ‘But not for us. That’s our system. No matter where you’re from, you can get a chance to play for Kerry.’
In the Kingdom, the county championship is when places like Cromane come to the fore. Walsh’s performances for MidKerry brought him to Pat O’Shea’s attention in 2007 (he had been initially called into the senior panel by Paídí Ó Sé in 2003 but drifted away).
Walsh wouldn’t make his Championship debut for another year, under Jack O’Connor. But it was only in the summer of 2009 – when Kerry appeared at war with the world – that he made a meaningful impact.
Kerry stumbled past Antrim and Sligo before coming across Dublin in Croke Park and waking up. When he considers the Cork side visiting Killarney, Walsh can’t get that season out of his mind.
‘We were in the same place Cork are now,’ he recalls. ‘Sligo would have beaten us in Tralee but Diarmuid Murphy made a great save from a David Kelly penalty. Then we drew Antrim, a game more remembered for the fact that Tomas Ó Sé and Colm Cooper were dropped after they went off for a few pints. We barely got over that one too. Then we got Dublin in the AllIreland quarter-final.
‘Suddenly the vibe in training was different. It was Dublin in Croke Park. The fact we had not been playing well was cast aside, this was a game we wanted.’
And Walsh reckons that this current Cork team, who edged past Waterford and Tipperary, might be jolted by the prospect of playing in Fitzgerald Stadium. ‘It could happen,’ says Walsh, a physio at Tralee General hospital. ‘All it takes is for something good to happen in a game for them, a shot that takes a deflection and goes into the net. Eamon Ryan, their selector, said recently there are just one game away from it clicking and it can happen in an instant.’
Walsh has moved from being recognised as a hard-working wing-forward to a vital link-man in Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s plan. His tireless running disguises the fact that he’s a fine kickpasser and has also improved his shooting, illustrated by the six points from play he kicked against Tyrone in the League.
But as he turns 33 tomorrow, Walsh wants to wring all he can out of his days left in green and gold, which means one thing.
‘You want to win Sam Maguire every September. That’s where it starts and finishes for Kerry football, the year is judged on whether we’ve won it or not. And when you are out training in the mud and cold of January, that is what drives you on.’
But Donnchadh Walsh is also driven on by representing Cromane and showing those youngsters he surprised last Sunday that if they work hard enough, they too can wear that famous jersey.