If you were to build a gaelic footballer from the ground up, what would they look like?
There are a number of key criteria that have to be filled. First, they have to be physically strong and good in the air. Let’s not forget about speed either, another integral part of any top intercounty player.
In a perfect world, our ideal footballer has to be both footed and lethal from free kicks. Finally, they have to have the intangibles. The unbelievable desire to win.
David Clifford fits the above description. On a day when things weren’t going his side's way, especially in the first half, Clifford kicked inspirational point after inspirational point to keep Kerry in the game during that tepid first half. If the 23-year old hadn’t been on song, who knows how big Galway’s lead at the break may have been.
When the final whistle blew, Clifford received all the plaudits. A man who has been destined to win an All-Ireland since he was just a minor finally lifted Sam Maguire for the first time. And let’s face it, it won’t be the last time either.
But let’s go back to our earlier description of what a top footballer should be. There was another man on the field who fit the bill to a tee. And that man was Shane Walsh.
Walsh was immense yesterday and was at the heart of everything that Galway did well. Nine points scored, five from play, and this all in the biggest game in his life. Add to it the fact that his chief partner in crime Damien Comer had a quiet day at the office, and it makes Walsh’s performance even more remarkable.
He wasn’t the only Galway hero who died with their boots on yesterday afternoon. Paul Conroy arguably has been the best midfielder in the country this season and was stellar again yesterday.
A special mention must be made for Cillian McDaid as well. The former Aussie rules star had huge games in the quarters and semis, and was sensational as well yesterday. Three points from play in an All Ireland final as a midfielder is a serious output.
However, it was Walsh that truly led The Tribesmen charge up until the death at Croke Park yesterday. Left foot, right foot, tight angle, long range, in all honesty, it didn’t matter because Walsh couldn’t miss.
The 29-year old has always been considered to be one of the most talented players in the country, with Sean Cavanagh and Pat Spillane almost falling out one last time when Cavanagh said that Walsh was actually more talented than Clifford. The potential has always been there.
But so too has the tendency to do silly things in big games coming down the stretch. Against Armagh in the quarter-finals, he tried an audacious cross-field ball in the last minute that was intercepted and led to the awarding of a free-kick which Rian O’Neil converted.
A similar story unfolded in the 2020 Connacht final against Mayo. A string of late free-kicks and ambitious pot-shots sailed wide from Walsh and Galway missed a huge chance to take home the provincial title.
Yet yesterday couldn’t have been further removed from these meltdowns. Walsh was mercurial, serene and quite frankly on another level to every single person on the pitch bar Clifford, who he may have been on par with.
At times, yesterday’s final turned into the Clifford and Walsh show. For 70 minutes the two talismans went tit-for-tat, with the Kerryman just coming out on top at the very end.
So another Championship is done and Kerry’s ‘famine’ is over. In years to come, this moment may go down in history as the moment a new Kingdom dynasty was created.
But spare a thought for Galway, who will be consumed by ‘what ifs?’
What if Galway had extended their lead when Kerry were all over the place in the first half? What if Robbie Finnerty had chipped in with two or three points as he had done all year? What if Damien Comer managed to shake off his marker for a split second close to goal?
It all could have been so, so different.
Shane Walsh won’t be consumed by ‘what ifs?’ On the biggest stage of them all, he put in the performance of a lifetime. On any other day, if anybody other than David Clifford had stood in his way, it would have been Walsh lifting Sam Maguire and ending The Tribesmen’s famine.
Walsh’s performance will be remembered for years to come. Had things gone slightly different, his nine point showing would be held in the same regard as Padraic Joyce’s star performance in the 2001 final.
Walsh just couldn’t quite emulate his manager. However, he put in what may well go down as history as the greatest losing performance in the history of the All Ireland final.
No-one ever deserved to lose a final less than Walsh. Yet, that will be little consolation for the man who dreamed of lifting Sam.
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