The pain Donnchadh Walsh is feeling right now may take some time to ease.
The Kerry players leaving Croke Park after Sunday’s defeat to Dublin were truly devastated. A fourth straight Championship defeat to their most bitter rivals – and the manner of it – will mean a long winter of contemplation for many of those Kingdom greats.
One source of comfort will be their clubs. Walsh will return to compete in the novice championship (Junior B) for Cromane. You don’t get too many multiple All-Ireland winners playing with Junior B clubs, but in Cromane they have two.
Cromane is no ordinary club.
The tiny fishing community west of Killorglin has won seven All-Ireland medals in the last 15 years, via Walsh and current Cromane player/trainer Sean O’Sullivan.
Sean ‘Bawn’ remembers what Walsh was like as a child when he leapt over his back garden into the neighbouring GAA field: “He was just that driven, he wanted to make it.”
The pair won All-Irelands together in 2007 and 2009 – lifting Sam Maguire together in 2009 for a photo that takes pride of place in the village pub.
O’Sullivan explains how he asked Walsh to lift it with him in 2007 but the younger man declined as he wanted to lift it alone the first time. They agreed if they were lucky enough to win another they would lift it together.
“I was going up the steps in 09 and I got a tug on the jersey and he said, ‘Hey, we made a deal’,” remembers O’Sullivan.
Walsh will now return to play alongside O’Sullivan and his brothers for Cromane but the hope is he will return to the green and gold – represent his club and his county on the biggest stages.
“Going to Croke Park, especially with the two of them playing together but even now and seeing ‘Donnchadh Walsh: Cromane’,” says founding member Patrick Casey. “What more do you need?”
