Tommy Walsh departs

[Mickmack]

Kerry GAA


Tommy

Tommy Walsh

Statement from Tim Murphy – Cathaoirleach Kerry CLG

Earlier today Tommy Walsh confirmed his decision to retire from the Kerry Senior Football Panel.

Tommy began his inter county career as a Minor and quickly progressed through to U-21 and Senior Ranks.

In the 2009 All-Ireland Series Tommy produced some memorable performances culminating in the All-Ireland Final win over Cork when he contributed a quarter of Kerry’s Scores on the day.

In October 2009 Tommy moved to Australia where he played Professional AFL until the end of 2014 and re-joined the Kerry Set up for the 2015/216 seasons.

Over the past two years in particular Tommy’s leadership on and off the field has helped to encourage, motivate, and successfully integrate many of our younger players onto the panel.

On behalf of all Kerry supporters I wish to sincerely thank and acknowledge Tommy for all he has done and wish him the very best in the future.



Statement from Jack O’ Connor – Kerry Senior Football Manager

It was with sadness that I learned today of Tommy Walsh’s decision to retire from the Kerry Senior football panel.

I coached Tommy for two years firstly in 2008 with Kerins O’ Rahilly’s when he was instrumental in helping the Club to a County Final and in 2009 with Kerry.

He gave one of the great exhibitions to the 2009 All Ireland final against Cork when he scored four great points – two from either foot. Like his father Seanie he was a man for the big occasion and raised his game accordingly.

I wish him all the best in retirement, and I hope he continues to enjoy a fruitful Club career for many years to come

[horsebox77]

No surprise, I suspect some more may follow - it's hard to selfishly swallow how the hybrid game has robbed us if the two best minor midfielders I ever seen in Tommy and Mark O'Connor - Enjoy your club ball Tommy.

I think next year it's very likely our starting XV may have no ireland medal from 2014 in the arse pocket. I think Stephan O'Brien and Paul Murphy have panel roles to play but their starting days may be numbered. It's a young man's game, I suspect Geaney and Moran may follow the big man out the side door

[buck02]

Tommy was a huge voice in the dressing room and that will be a loss. Time for some of the younger guys to step up a bit in this regard.

That goal he got in the semi final replay against Cork was one of the best individual goals scored by a Kerryman in Croke Park.

If only he hadn't gone to Australia who knows what he could have done for Kerry.

[Annascaultilidie]

I got great excitement watching Tommy Walsh play over the last few years.

He had two immense catches against Kildare in 2015 that were class (albeit in a cake walk).

[veteran]

Farewell Tommy and thanks for your noble contribution to Kerry football. Like your father before you , you were an adornment . Like your father before you , you always carried yourself with dignity.

I wish you good health .

[Deleted]

Thank you Tommy, enjoy your retirement, I feel if you had stayed at home we might have a few more allirelands but that's the way it goes I guess.

[thehermit]

Sad to see the big man go, but I guess it was always likely he would call it a day now.

Still, as so many of you have eluded to, Tommy ends a Kerry career that could/should have been so much more illustrious. It is mad to think he has only really the one All Ireland medal for 2009 to his name (granted he won one as a panelist in 2007). Think back to the animal he was when he appeared properly in 2008. The Twins Towers misfired a bit in his first All Ireland final, which was understandable given his young age. But boy how he made up for that in the decider a year later.
Funny I only stumbled across that game as the second half began about a month ago on EIR sport. Since being on the Hill for it, I don't think I ever watched it back. He was immense, such a brilliant display by such a young player esp as it was such a low scoring performance by the rest of the team.

I guess it will always be one of the great 'what's if's' of modern Kerry GAA if he had stayed and not been lured to Oz. Certainly Jack would have squeezed at least one more title out of the team. Surely with Tommy only hitting his stride we would have consigned Dublin to another championship defeat i 2011 - it might only have delayed the inevitable but wouldn't it have been worth it!!

Alas he left us and was never the same player again. And when he came back we were far too anxious to throw him back into the cauldron of the inter-county game. I'm sure many of you were in Killarney on that dreary, wet Feb Sunday when the Rossies raided the citadel. Tommy started and honestly I worried after he was subbed off if Kerry was only blaggarding the lad expecting him to come back as if he was still the player of 08-09.

It didn't work out as we know but I was so delighted to see him come back again in 2019 and be given a fairer shot. In truth he was an impact sub and though he never shot the lights out he was a calming and dependable presence to bring in and offer a link option in attack. I'm sure he's greatest value over the past three seasons was as a leader and motivator in the dressing room. You could see that everytime he came onto the pitch too. And he was always standing in the middle of the circle at a game's end speaking to the group.

I'm just desperately sorry he's third coming didn't end with another Celtic Cross to his name. I suppose its just symptomatic of the three potential All Ireland's Kerry have tossed away since Sept 2019.

Anyway Tommy you were some athlete and some baller and you kept up a great family tradition in the green and gold. Best of luck and hope you might enjoy some more success with the Narries in the years ahead.

[Deleted]

Best of luck to Tommy in the future. He was a very different player after his injury and lacked the explosiveness of 2008. and 2009. There will always be a sense of unfulfilled potential with Tommy but even still he had a hell of a career and a good guy as well. He was a big influence in the Kerry dressing room these past few years in terms of setting standards and will be missed.

[glengael]

Disappointed so little comment on this. It's not exactly surprising news. Tommy is 32/33 now so may have a few years at club level remaining. Hopefully that will be the case so that we can see some more of him.
He was the bright star of the long arduous summer on 2008, the man who 'kept his head' when many of the more experienced around him were losing theirs. His points in 2009 Final will live long in my memory and he was the greatest loss of all those who departed after that Final. Fair play to him for coming back, twice, for Kerry, after his return from Oz. It can't have been easy to go back into battle after that horrific injury.

He carried on the family name and tradition with honour and I wish him well for the future.

[mike70]

In fairness, I think comments got lost over a number of threads, but 100%, thanks Tommy for his service to Kerry football over all the years, let’s hope we continue to see his high fielding for another few years with his club Kerins o rahillys.

Thank you Tommy.

[onlykerry]

A great servant to Kerry football - still remember him as an underage player when he was twice the size of lads of his age. He used his size to great advantage and packed a lot into his playing days - hopefully he gets to enjoy a few more years at club level.

[mossie]

best of luck to Tommy

not sure kerry made best use of his aerial skills since he came back from Oz, used him a link man rather than a target man

if we used him as a target man more in the 2019 drawn final , there would have been no 5 in a row for the Dubs, and we would not be in a mini famine

[Mickmack]

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GAA Oct 19, 2021
By PJ Browne

'He Held The Room For 7 or 8 Minutes, There Wasn’t An Eyeball Off Him'
'

When Tommy Walsh returned to the Kerry panel following five years in Australia playing AFL with St Kilda and Sydney Swans, Kieran Donaghy felt something had changed in the Kerins O'Rahillys forward.

"I remember the first time he spoke to the team when he came back in before some big game in 2015," Donaghy told Radio Kerry's Terrace Talk show on Monday shortly after the announcement that Walsh had retired from inter-county football.

"Jesus, he held the room for seven or eight minutes, there wasn’t an eyeball off him. He looked everybody in the eye, he spoke very clear and very powerfully. I remember going, 'Wow, this fella has developed something else since his time in Australia'.

"He went as a [21-year-old] phenom that I was kind of trying to take under my wing as a young person, and he came back as a grown man that knew what he was about, had been through real highs and lows in Australia with the injuries and how that affected him.

"I just thought he was pure class in the dressing room afterwards. I always felt safe in the knowledge that he was in there, nurturing the next crop of Kerry footballers that were coming through. I would say that if you ask any one of them, they will be missing him big-time in the dressing room next year.

"Tommy is a class human being, he’s very loyal, very straight, there’s no bull* with him. He’ll tell you like it is, if you are performing or if you’re not performing. He was always a leader on the pitch in the early part of his career."





A serious hamstring injury hampered Walsh's time Down Under, eventually leading to his return to Ireland a few weeks after Kerry's 2014 All-Ireland final victory against Donegal.

Kerry selector Mikey Sheehy later admitted that a mistake was made in recalling Walsh so soon. The 2008 Young Footballer of the Year left the Kerry panel after the 2016 league campaign, frustrated with a lack of game time. He did later return to the group, with Peter Keane as manager, for the 2019 season.

"My instant thought when I heard the news that he was leaving Australia... I was onto him pretty quickly," said Donaghy when asked if Walsh's situation could have been handled better.

"We were after winning the All-Ireland in '14, and I was trying to see if we could win another. My call to him was, 'Let's go. Let's get in'.

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"If Tommy came back, and the Kerry management didn't call him in, there would have been far more questions at the time."


Walsh's greatest day in a Kerry jersey was the 2009 All-Ireland final, a game in which he scored four points from play.

"I remember going into that ’09 final thinking, 'Jesus, there is a lot of heat on this guy, he’s been a kind of phenom all the way up through his underage career, there’s pressure on him now, he’s going into an All-Ireland final and he’s in at full-forward'," said Donaghy.

"I was just coming back from injury, so he had to kind of carry that ball-winning load up front. He was absolutely unbelievable the same day. He put on a performance for the ages at full-forward. We were quite devastated to find out that he was going to Australia.

kieran donaghy tommy walsh kerry retired




"There were none of us trying to break down his door trying to keep him because it was an opportunity. With his athletic ability, and how much of a freak of nature he was on the pitch, you were hoping he'd go down there and would excel.

"He made my job a lot easier anyway! He was such a good ball-winner, both out in front and over his head. He was always a mismatch for corner-backs.

"I suppose the only two that really got on top of us were the Tyrone boys in '08, and that was them putting their midfielder and their biggest centre-back (Joe and Justin McMahon) back on both of us in the full-back line. Other than that, there was nobody who could really handle him and, even on that day, we were living off scraps really against Tyrone because they controlled possession.

"To me, his performance in that ‘09 final, with the history and his dad being there before him, and now it was his time to carry the can for Kerry... I was so proud of him after that game because of the performance he put in with that weight of expectation, by himself and the county, that was on him."

Picture credit: Sportsfile

[kerryexile5]

Best wishes to Tommy. He gave everything he could to the Kerry cause before he went to Oz and everything upon his return.

He may have some what ifs and regrets but I am sure he enjoyed his time in Oz also.

Pity we never saw him fulfull his awesome potential but that is life.