Paul Walsh: We had to dig deep to see off a team the calibre of Éire Óg

It was an afternoon to remember for Kanturk captain and Man of the Match Paul Walsh following his side’s McCarthy Insurance Group Senior AFC county final win over Éire Óg last Sunday.

Not content with contributing 1-2 of his team’s winning total, Walsh produced a composed and effective display to help secure a 1-15 to 0-14 victory at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

By the Kanturk captain’s own admission, his club had to dig deep to see off an Éire Óg team still in contention with only a couple of minutes to go.

Walsh’s first half goal, the only green flag on the day, proved critical to the county final’s outcome.

“We did have to dig deep,” Walsh admitted.

“It was by no means a fluke that Éire Óg were in the final. They went through the whole group unbeaten, went straight into the semi-final and came out, with a massive win over Cill na Marta, after extra-time. That was the calibre of team we faced today.

“As for my goal, I’d say to be honest, I had my eyes half closed. It was more of a hit and hope. I put my laces through it and, look, like that, it was lucky to go in.” Remaining calm and retaining possession until a scoring opportunity developed, Kanturk used all their experience to see off Éire Óg down the closing stretch of a tight encounter.

“We went in a point down but, funnily enough, no one was panicking or anything like that,” the Kanturk captain commented.

“We were kind of happy enough with how the first 15 minutes went. Then, the second 15 minutes didn’t go as well. We kind of went away from it a small bit.

“So, when we went in (at half-time), we regrouped. Everyone spoke about what was working well and what we needed to improve on. Then, into the second half, every fellow was laser-focused as to what was needed to be done.

“I felt coming down the stretch that everyone was on the same page and that helped us.” Understandably, questions were being asked about a dual club’s fatigue levels having qualified for a Senior A football final after reaching the last four of this year’s Premier Senior hurling championship.

Kanturk answered those questions and underlined why they will be force in both of the top grades next year.

“It is funny because everyone asks the same question,” Paul Walsh said.

“You know, how do you keep digging deep. What I find is that momentum is massive. That is a massive thing. What I have found about this group is that if we go well in one (code), the momentum bounces off the other one.

“There is such a crossover of fourteen or fifteen lads starting on both teams. You bring in that buzz, you get the recovery sessions done, you get the gym sessions done and then you train. Fellas are bouncing off their skin.

“That’s the one thing you can’t train for, momentum. You can do all the tactics, all the training in the world but you can’t get momentum. When you are playing week in, week out, playing well and putting in good performances, you get a fierce bounce off of that.

“So, that’s probably down to a lot of it (success) for us this year.

“There is no more of it being a 15-man game. There are 20 or 25 lads involved and lads that didn’t come on today. They are the ones putting in a shift three or four times a week.

“You need absolutely everyone pulling in the same direction to get a result, like we did today.”