| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Tomás Breathnach | ||
| Sport | Hurling | ||
| Position | Right wing-back | ||
| Born | 5 May 1983 Tullaroan, County Kilkenny, Ireland |
||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Occupation | Bank official | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| 2000-present | Tullaroan | ||
| Club Titles | |||
| Kilkenny titles | 0 | ||
| Inter-county(ies)* | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
| 2002-present | Kilkenny | 36 (1-31) | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Leinster titles | 8 | ||
| All Irelands | 6 | ||
| NHL | 4 | ||
| All Stars | 9 | ||
| *Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 4 September 2009. | |||
Tommy Walsh (born 5 May 1983) is an Irish hurler who currently plays as a right wing-back for the Kilkenny senior team. He joined the team during the 2002 championship and became a regular member of the starting fifteen the following year.[1]
Walsh is regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time.[2] He has won six All-Ireland winner's medals, eight Leinster winner's medals and four National League winner's medal. He has ended up as an All-Ireland runner-up on two occasions.
Walsh has a number of personal achievements. He is only the second player in hurling history to have won eight consecutive All-Star awards, receiving one award for every year of his playing career. In 2009 he made a clean sweep of all the top individual awards, winning the All-Star, Texaco and GPA Hurler of the Year awards. That same year he was chosen on the Leinster team of the last twenty-five years.
At club level, Walsh plays with Tullaroan, the all-time roll of honour leaders in club hurling in Kilkenny, however, during Walsh's playing days the team have failed to reach the summit of club hurling.
At international level, Walsh has played for the composite rules shinty-hurling team, captaining his country to the title over Scotland in 2009.
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Tommy Walsh was born in Tullaroan, County Kilkenny in 1983. He was educated at the local national school before later attending St. Kieran's College, a famed hurling nursery in Kilkenny. It was here that Walsh's talent first came to the fore on the hurling field. In 1999 he was a key member of the college hurling team that captured the Leinster title. Walsh later lined out in the All-Ireland final, however, St. Flannan's College of Ennis won the game by 2-15 to 2-10. In 2000 he added a second Leinster colleges' title to his collection as St. Kieran's retained the provincial title. A second consecutive All-Ireland showdown with St. Flannan's soon followed. At the second time of asking St. Kieran's defeated the Clare side by 1-10 to 0-9 and Walsh collected a coveted All-Ireland winners' medal.[3]
Following the completion of his Leaving Certificate, Walsh attended University College Cork (UCC) were he joined the university's hurling team. He enjoyed little success here as UCC lost out to Waterford Institute of Technology in the 2003-04 Fitzgibbon Cup final.[4]
After graduating from UCC Walsh worked as a bank official with Bank of Ireland.
Walsh plays his local club hurling with Tullaroan, one of the most famous and successful clubs in the county. He has enjoyed some success at underage levels; however, Walsh has yet to win or even appear in a senior county championship decider.
Walsh first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Kilkenny minor hurling team at the turn of the century. He won his sole Leinster title in this grade in 2001, however, his side were later defeated by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.[5]
Walsh later moved on to the county under-21 team with whom he won his first Leinster title in 2003. Kilkenny later played Galway in the All-Ireland final and, following the heartbreak of losing to the westerners in the minor grade, Walsh reversed the trend and collected his first All-Ireland under-21 winners' medal following a 2-13 to 0-12 victory.[6]
In 2004 Walsh added a second consecutive Leinster title to his collection before later lining out in a second consecutive All-Ireland final. Arch rivals Tipperary were the opponents on that occasion, however. 'the Cats' were unstoppable and powered to a 3-21 to 1-6 victory.[7] It was Walsh’s second All-Ireland medal and his last outing in the under-21 grade.
Walsh was still a member of the under-21 panel when he joined the Kilkenny senior team in 2002. That year he shared in his county's Leinster and All-Ireland triumphs, however, Walsh was yet to make his debut.[8]
In 2003 Walsh became a key member of the Kilkenny half-forward line as the team's dominance of all hurling competitions continued. For the second consecutive year Shefflin's side qualified for the final of the National Hurling League. Old rivals Tipperary were the opponents and a cracking game of hurling developed between the two. Henry Shefflin bagged 2-6, as Kilkenny claimed a narrow 5-14 to 5-13 victory.[9] It was Walsh's first National League winners' medal. The Leinster hurling counties provided little opposition in the subsequent championship campaign and Kilkenny marched to yet another Leinster title. The 2-23 to 2-12 defeat of Wexford gave Walsh his very first Leinster winners' medal.[10] Subsequent success over Tipperary gave Kilkenny a save passage into an All-Ireland final showdown with Cork. Walsh's side were the overwhelming favourites going into the game, however, they never led by more than four points at any stage of the game. Setanta Ó hAilpín scored the equalising goal for Cork after the restart, however, Martin Comerford's goal five miutes before the end clinched a 1-14 to 1-11 victory for Kilkenny.[11] It was Walsh's first All-Ireland winners' medal in the senior grade. He was subsequently presented with his first All-Star award..
In 2004 Kilkenny were aiming for an elusive third All-Ireland victory in-a-row, however, the team was now under severe pressure from all quarters. Walsh was redeployed from the forwards to wing-back, however, for the first time in seven years Kilkenny failed in their bid to become Leinster champions as a last-gasp Wexford goal ended an almost unprecedented run of success at the semi-final stage.[12] Kilkenny took the scenic route via the qualifiers system, however, after a scare against Clare they still reached the All-Ireland final. For the second year in-a-row Cork provided the opposition on a gloomy and overcast day. The sides were level for much of the game, however, in the final twenty minutes Cork scored nine points without reply and secured the victory.[13] Kilkenny ended the year with no silverware, however, in spite of this Walsh was still presented with a second All-Star award.
Kilkenny were back in form in 2005 and duly qualified for the National League final. Clare were the opponents on that occasion, however, they provided little opposition as 'the Cats' secures a huge 3-20 to 0-15 victory and a second National League title for Walsh.[14] Kilkenny later proved that the 2004 defeat in Leinster was just a temporary blip. A 0-22 to 1-16 defeat of Wexford in the final gave Kilkenny possession of the provincial title and gave Walsh a second Leinster winners' medal.[15] While a third successive All-Ireland showdown with Cork seemed likely, Galway defeated Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final in one of the game's of the decade. In spite of failing to reach the championship decider a third successive All-Star award was quickly added to Walsh's collection.
In 2006 Walsh captured a third National League title following a 3-11 to 0-14 victory over Limerick.[16] Walsh later won his third Leinster title following another facile victory over Wexford, before lining out in the All-Ireland final. The game that everyone had predicted would happen in 2005 was now taking place as Cork squared up to Kilkenny for the third time in four years. The Leesiders were aiming for a third All-Ireland victory in-a-row; however, revenge was foremost in the minds of Kilkenny as it was Cork who denied their three-in-a-row bid in 2004. On the day Kilkenny were far too strong for Cork as 'the Cats' secured a 1-16 to 1-13 victory.[17] It was Walsh's second All-Ireland winners' medal. A fourth All-Star award quickly followed for Walsh.
In 2007 Kilkenny were aiming for a third consecutive National League title, however, Waterford triumphed in the final for the first time in forty-four years. Kilkenny moved on undeterred and Walsh captured a fourth Leinster medal following another facile victory in the final. Once again Kilkenny later qualified for the All-Ireland final where, surprisingly, Limerick provided the opposition. Kilkenny got off to a flying start with Eddie Brennan and Henry Shefflin combining to score two goals within the first ten minutes. Unfortunately, Shefflin sustained an injury during the game and had to retire at half-time. In spite of losing their captain and star player Kilkenny still went on to win the game by 2-19 to 1-15.[18] This victory gave Walsh a third All-Ireland medal, while his fifth consecutive All-Star award soon followed.
2008 saw Kilkenny launch an all-out attack in an attempt to capture a third All-Ireland title in-a-row. The team had an easy passage through the Leinster Championship, however, the opening half of the provincial final against Wexford gave ‘the Cats’ a minor scare. In the end Walsh collected his fifth Leinster winners' medal after a 5-21 to 0-17 victory. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Kilkenny take on Waterford. It was their first meeting in the championship decider in forty-five years. A classic game of hurling was expected by many, however, Kilkenny started stronger. Two goals by Eddie Brennan after twenty minutes effectively killed the game, however, ‘the Cats’ ploughed on. 'The Cats' gave an almost flawless performance as the team romped to an enormous 3-30 to 1-13 win.[19] It was Shefflin's fourth All-Ireland winners' medal. A sixth consecutive All-Star award soon followed for Walsh as Kilkenny dominated the team of the year selection.[20]
With the three-in-a-row taken care of, 2009 Kilkenny set out to break Cork's seemingly unbeatable record of four championship titles in succession, a record which had stood since 1944. Tipperary were seen as the main challengers to Kilkenny's dominance and both sides lined out against each other in the final of the National League. Tipperary stormed into a decisive lead as they took the game by the scruff of the neck; however, 'the Cats' clawed their way back into the game. At the end of normal time both sides were level. A period of extra-time followed, however, in spite of battling to the very end Tipp were beaten and Kilkenny won by 2-26 to 4-17.[21] It was Walsh's fourth National League winners' medal. The subsequent championship campaign saw 'the Cats' line out against Dublin in the Leinster final. While many expected 'the Dubs' to be lambs to the slaughter in that game, Kilkenny found it difficult to cope. It took two goals from Martin Comerford to secure a 2-18 to 0-18 victory and a sixth Leinster winners' medal for Walsh.[22] After a six-week lay-off and a thrilling semi-final with Waterford, Kilkenny qualified for a fourth successive final and the chance to make history. In a repeat of the league final, Tipperary were the opponents. For much of the match it looked as if Tipp would pull off a shock and deny 'the Cats' a record-equaling four-in-a-row. Two quick goals in the space of a minute, one from a penalty by Henry Shefflin, sealed a 2-22 to 0-23 victory. It was the fourth time in-a-row that the famed Liam McCarthy Cup was presented to a Kilkenny team.[23] It was also Walsh's fifth All-Ireland medal. He was subsequently honoured when he was presented with a seventh consecutive All-Star award, as well as picking up the Texaco, Vodafone and GPA Hurler of the Year awards.[24]
Walsh has also lined out with Leinster in the inter-provincial hurling competition and has enjoyed some success. He captured his first Railway Cup title in 2006 following a nine-point defeat of Connacht in the final. After surrendering the title the following year, Walsh secured a second Railway Cup title as captain in 2008 when Leinster defeated Munster by 1-15 to 1-12. He added a third inter-provincial winners' medal to his collection in 2009 as Leinster defeated Connacht by 3-18 to 1-17 to take the very last Railway Cup title.
Walsh also had the honour of being called up for duty on the Ireland team in the composite rules shinty-hurling series of games. He was in the number four position on the team in 2008 as a close game developed between the near neighbours. A narrow 1-10 to 1-9 score line gave victory to the Scots.[25]
In 2009 Walsh had the honour of being named captain of the Irish side that travelled to Inverness. A close game developed, however, Ireland withstood a dramatic six minutes of injury-time as a Shane Dooley goal ensured a 1-11 to 1-8 victory.[26] It was Walsh's first title in this game while he also had the honour of collecting the cup as captain.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny) |
Vodafone All-Stars Hurler of the Year 2009 |
Succeeded by Lar Corbett (Tipperary) |
| Texaco Hurler of the Year 2009 |
||
| Gaelic Players' Association Hurler of the Year 2009 |
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| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Shane Cavanagh |
Ireland Composite Rules Shinty-Hurling Captain 2009 |
Succeeded by Paul Dermody |
| Achievements | ||
| Preceded by John Mullane (Munster) |
Railway Cup Hurling Final winning captain 2008 |
Succeeded by J. J. Delaney (Leinster) |
| Preceded by Kenny Ross (Scotland) |
Composite Rules Shinty-Hurling Final winning captain 2009 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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