Picture: Konrad Paprocki
Despite being repeatedly snubbed by the All-Stars selection committee, Donnchadh Walsh has more than earned his place in the Kerry GAA hall of fame, suggests John O’Mahony
IT could well be a table quiz question for future generations to ponder: Who, up to 2015, was the best Kerry player never to have won an All-Star award?
There’s only one correct answer.
So stand up and take a bow those who said Donnchadh Walsh.
For all the craft and genius of Cooper and O’Donoghue, the ability of Moran and Maher to compete with the crows and the swashbuckling exploits of Young and Donaghy, the all-action Cromane man has been the real constant that has elevated his county to lofty heights.
Amid the excitement of the drawn decider and Saturday’s rain-lashed replay in Killarney, the crucial role again played by the wholehearted Walsh might have slipped under the radar.
He ran with the enthusiasm and abandon of a player half his age. He tackled with the ferocity and commitment of a man twice his size. He battled for every breaking ball, he set up Kerry attacks, broke up Cork offensives, popped over a timely score and provided the essential link between backs and forwards that every team so desperately needs.
There is no getting away from the fact that Donnchadh Walsh is one of the greatest unsung heroes of his or any generation. Now 31 years of age and in the autumn of a truly remarkable playing career, he has been one of the first names pencilled into team sheets by every manager, club or county, at any age group, since he first mastered the art of lacing his boots.
Ask any Kerry player over the past decade and more who has been their most influential team-mate and the initials DW are likely to figure very prominently – if not every time.
With three Celtic crosses in his back pocket, four Munster Championship medals tucked away for safe keeping and one national league win to his name, not to mention underage and club accolades, Walsh has been well decorated for his exploits. But, quite bizarrely, despite years of consistently outstanding league and championship performances, he has always been overlooked by the All-Star selection committee.
That says more about those charged with the responsibility of picking the best players in the best positions in any given season but the error of their ways will come as no surprise given some of the wild deliberations made over the years which were comical and ridiculous in equal measures.
It’s hard to believe that 12 long years have passed since the day Cromane’s greatest ever player first slipped the green and gold senior jersey over his slight frame for a league game against Dublin in 2003. After a few seasons on the fringes and on the bench, the number 12 jersey has become his own since 2008, with over 40 championship appearances to his credit.
Chances are, before this year’s All-Ireland series draws to its conclusion, Donnchadh Walsh will have dipped into his quiver full of footballing arrows to leave left stamp on proceedings once again.
But you won’t see his name up in lights. And you are unlikely to see him donning the tux and bow tie on All-Stars night.
In years to come, however, when the list of true Kerry greats is being compiled by the sporting historians, Donnchadh Walsh is likely to be one of the first names pencilled in.
Just as it always has been.
