Dick Walsh

For the sporting executive, see Dick Walsh (executive).

For other people of the same name, see Richard Walsh (disambiguation).

Dick 'Drug' Walsh

Personal information
Irish name	Risteard Breathnach
Sport	Hurling
Position	Centre-back
Born	Mooncoin, County Kilkenny
Nickname	Drug
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Mooncoin
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1904-1914	Kilkenny
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles	7
All Irelands	7

Richard Walsh (1878–1958), better known as Dick 'Drug' Walsh, was a famous Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Mooncoin and with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the early years of the 20th century. Walsh captained Kilkenny to three All-Ireland titles in 1907, 1909 and 1913.

Walsh's status as one of Kilkenny’s all-time greats is self-evident. In a senior inter-county career that lasted for ten years he won seven All-Ireland titles and seven Leinster titles. Walsh, together with Dick Doyle, Jack Rochford and Sim Walton, became the first player in the history of the championship to win seven All-Ireland hurling titles on the field of play. This record was later surpassed by Christy Ring and John Doyle.

Biography

Richard Walsh was born in Rathkieran, Mooncoin, County Kilkenny in 1878. He grew up on the family farm and developed the necessary skills on the land, the river and on the hurling field. Walsh earned his nickname 'Drug' in the local national school as he liked to sing the song Clare's Dragoons. In singing it he appeared to pronounce the word dragoons as ‘drugoons’ and so his school-mates gave him the nickname 'Drug.' It was a nickname that he came to dislike in later life. A more acceptable form of the name, accepted by himself, was ‘Dhroog’, a corrupt sounth Kilkenny form of the first part of the word ‘dragoon.’

Dick Walsh died in 1958 and was buried in Carrigeen cemetery.

Playing career

Club

Walsh played his club hurling with the famous Mooncoin side in Kilkenny. He enjoyed much success with the club, winning senior county titles in 1906, 1908 and 1913. Walsh captained the club to two of these county victories.

Inter-county

Walsh first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Kilkenny team in the early years of the 20th century. He mad ehis debut in 1904 as Kilkenny defeated Dublin, giving Walsh his first Leinster title. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Kilkenny face Cork in Carrick-on-Suir. In a close game that saw Kilkenny goalkeeper make a miraculous save in the last minute, Kilkenny won the day giving Walsh his first All-Ireland title. It was also Kilkenny’s first championship title; however, it would not be the last time that the county defeated Cork by a point to take the title. In 1905 Walsh added a second Leinster title to his collection following a second consecutive defeat of Dublin. For the second year in-a-row ‘the Cats’ later took on Cork in the All-Ireland final. Cork won the game by 5-10 to 3-13; however, the game had to be replayed for a number of reasons. Firstly, Cork goalkeeper Daniel McCarthy was a British army reservist and, secondly, Kilkenny’s Matt Gargan had played with Waterford before playing for Kilkenny. The replay produced another high-scoring, however, Kilkenny won the game by 7-7 to 2-9, giving Walsh his second All-Ireland title. In 1906 Walsh played in another provincial final, however, Kilkenny were defeated by Dublin on that occasion.

In 1907 Kilkenny got the better of Dublin once again giving Walsh, who by this stage was appointed captain of the side, a third Leinster title. For the third time in four years Cork provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final. In yet another high-scoring encounter between these two sides Kilkenny won by a single point giving Walsh a third All-Ireland title. This game became the benchmark by which all subsequebt performances were judged. Kilkenny did not play in the championship in 1908, however, Walsh was appointed captain again in 1909. That year he won a fourth Leinster title as ‘the Cats’ defeated Laois in the provincial final. The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Kilkenny against Tipperary in Cork. Once again, the game was a high-scoring one as Tipperary suffered their first defeat in nine All-Ireland final appearances. A 4-6 to 0-12 victory gave Walsh his fourth All-Ireland medal. Kilkenny surrendered their Leinster and All-Ireland crowns in 1910, however, 1911 saw Walsh picking up his fifth provincial winners’ medal. There was controversy in the All-Ireland final as Kilkenny were destined to play Limerick. On the first occasion the pitch in Cork was water-logged and the game was refixed for Thurles. Limerick pulled out of the replay and the title was awarded to Kilkenny. Limerick defeated Kilkenny in a challenge match later that same year; however, Walsh was the one who had collected a fifth All-Ireland medal. In The following year Walsh collected a sixth Leinster medal before lining out in another All-Ireland final. Cork provided the opposition on that occasion in a low-scoring but close game. A 2-1 to 1-3 victory gave Walsh an impressive sixth All-Ireland medal. In 1913 Kilkenny were attempting to make history by capturing their third championship in-a-row. Walsh was appointed captain for the third time. Kilkenny retained their provincial dominance with Walsh collecting a seventh Leinster title. The All-Ireland final saw ‘the Cats’ square up to Tipperary in the first fifteen-a-side final. Kilkenny had the lead at half-time and only scored a goal in the second-half. They won the game by 2-4 to 1-2 giving Walsh a seventh All-Ireland winners’ medal. Following victory Walsh accepted the Great Southern and Western Railway company trophy – the first All-Ireland trophy to be presented to a victorious team captain. As well as that Walsh made history on that day by becoming the first player to captain both fifteen-a-side and seventeen-a-side teams to All-Ireland titles.

Four All-Ireland titles in-a-row proved beyond this Kilkenny team as they were beaten by Laois in 1914. This defeat brought Walsh’s inter-county hurling career to an end.

Provincial

Walsh also lined out with Leinster in an inter-provincial hurling competition that was the forerunner to the Railway Cup. He captained the team to the Railway Shield title in 1908.

Post-playing career

In retirement from playing Walsh maintained a keen interest in the game of hurling. In 1915 he trained the Laois team that defeated Dublin to win the Leinster title. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw the county take on the favourites Cork. Walsh prepared the team well and Laois won the All-Ireland title by 6-2 to 4-1.

Sporting positions
Preceded by	Kilkenny Senior Hurling Captain 1907	Succeeded by
Preceded by	Kilkenny Senior Hurling Captain 1909	Succeeded by
Preceded by	Kilkenny Senior Hurling Captain 1913	Succeeded by Sim Walton
Achievements
Preceded by Tom Semple (Tipperary)	All-Ireland Senior Hurling winning captain 1907	Succeeded by Tom Semple (Tipperary)
Preceded by Tom Semple (Tipperary)	All-Ireland Senior Hurling winning captain 1909	Succeeded by Dick Doyle (Wexford)
Preceded by Sim Walton (Kilkenny)	All-Ireland Senior Hurling winning captain 1913	Succeeded by Amby Power (Clare)

Teams

References

• Brendan Fullam, Captains of the Ash, (Wolfhound Press, 2004).

External links

• Mooncoin GAA

Persondata
Name	Walsh, Dick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1878
Place of birth	Mooncoin
Date of death	1958
Place of death