Michael Walsh (Kilkenny hurler)

Michael Walsh

Personal information
Irish name	Mícheál Breathnach
Sport	Hurling
Position	Goalkeeper
Born	13 October 1961 (1961-10-13) (age 50) Kilkenny, Ireland
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Nickname	Mickey
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Dicksboro
Club Titles
Kilkenny titles	1
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1991-1996	Kilkenny
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles	3
All Irelands	2
All Stars	2

Michael Walsh (born 13 October 1961) is a former Irish sportsperson. He was the goalkeeper on the Kilkenny senior hurling team from 1991 until 1996.

Playing career

Club

Michael Walsh was born in the Dicksboro area of Kilkenny in 1961. The son of the legendary Kilkenny goalkeeper Ollie Walsh, he would also go on to have much success as a sportsperson in his own right. Walsh played his club hurling with his local Dicksboro club. He had much success at underage level and won a Kilkenny Intermediate county title in 1991. The club subsequently joined the senior ranks and Walsh won a senior county title in 1993.

Inter-county

Walsh had no All-Ireland success at either minor or under-21 levels with Kilkenny and he first came to prominence in 1984 when he played as a wing-forward in an Oireachtas game. Two years later in 1986 he moved to the position of goalkeeper when he won an All-Ireland medal with the Kilkenny junior hurling team. In 1987 he played in goal for the senior team in the opening three rounds of the National Hurling League. A mistake in the third game lead to Clare scoring a goal and Walsh was dropped from the panel. In spite of this he won another All-Ireland junior title in 1990.

In the autumn of 1990 Walsh’s father, Ollie Walsh, was appointed manager of the Kilkenny senior hurling team. He gave his son a chance to play in that year’s National Hurling League, and Walsh Jr. later became the first-choice goalkeeper on the senior team. Some have said that the only reason that Walsh was on the team was because his father was the manager. He was nearly thirty years-old at the time and there were other younger contenders for the position. In spite of this criticism Walsh went on to have a very successful career as a goalkeeper with Kilkenny. Later in 1991 Walsh won his first senior Leinster title with Kilkenny, however, his side were beaten by Tipperary in the All-Ireland final. In spite of this he was still presented with an All-Star award for his great display in the championship.

In 1992 Walsh won his second Leinster title before later claiming his first senior All-Ireland medal following a win over Cork. The following year he captured his third consecutive Leinster title before making his third consecutive appearance in an All-Ireland final. In the final Kilkenny beat Galway by 2-17 to 1-15 and Walsh collected his second All-Ireland medal. He finished off the year by also winning a second All-Star. Over the next few year Offaly emerged as the dominant team in Leinster as Kilkenny began to slide. Walsh did win a National Hurling League medal in 1995, however, there was no more championship success.

In March 1996 Walsh’s father died. This was a major blow for Walsh as his father had been a huge influence on his career. He continued to play but he retired following Kilkenny’s defeat to Wexford in the Leinster quarter-final.

Post-playing career

In retirement from playing Walsh has maintained a keen interest in the game. In 2001 he became manager of the Carlow senior hurling team, however, he had little success there.Micheal is a hurling anzalsyt for KCLR Radio and has recently been appointed Kilkenny Under 21 manager for 2008.

Soccer

Walsh, along with his two brothers Billy and Ollie, also played soccer for Kilkenny City A.F.C. at schoolboy, youth, junior and senior level. In the early 1980s Walsh also received offers from both Waterford United and St. Patrick’s Athletic. He also captained the Republic of Ireland at youth level. He later served Kilkenny City A.F.C. as their schoolboys general manager and at one stage ran 20 teams.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Eddie O'Connor	Kilkenny Senior Hurling Captain 1994	Succeeded by Bill Hennessy
Preceded by Eddie Byrne	Carlow Senior Hurling Manager 2001-2004	Succeeded by Eoin Garvey
Achievements
Preceded by Vincent Mullins (Galway)	All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Final winning manager 2008	Succeeded by John Minogue (Clare)

Teams

References

• Christy O'Connor, Last Man Standing: Hurling Goalkeepers, (O'Brien Press, 2005)

Persondata
Name	Walsh, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 October 1961
Place of birth	Kilkenny
Date of death
Place of death