In a six-minute spell late in the second half of normal time of last Sunday’s league final, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh won three puckouts, two of which led to Waterford points. For the second of those scores, Walsh lost possession and was surrounded by three Clare players. Two more Clare players were within a five metre radius of him. There was no way he could win the ball back but Walsh took all them out of the equation by flicking the ball backwards and into the path of Shane Bennett, who hared forward for the lead point in injury time.
The sequence of play encapsulated everything about Walsh; his power, strength, belief, desire, his ability to win possession, his ability to win ball that nobody else can or will. It framed everything about the essence of Walsh’s character, and of how important he has been for Waterford for over a decade.
In Waterford’s modern history, the county has produced some brilliant players, some of the most talented and skilful hurlers, and standout personalities, to ever play the game; Ken McGrath, Paul Flynn, Tony Browne, John Mullane, Eoin Kelly, Dan Shanahan. Walsh would never be categorised in the same bracket for skill, or mercurial talent, or the exuberance of his personality on the pitch, but his value to Waterford has granted him a similar cult status.
That consistency always marked Walsh apart. His performances rarely, if ever, fell below a certain threshold. If they did, his workrate or application or desire never did. That honesty added to Walsh’s status both inside and outside of Waterford. Michael Fennelly always privately said ‘Brick’ Walsh was one of the toughest guys he ever marked. Brian Cody always had huge respect for Walsh. It was easy to see why.
Walsh represented everything Cody valued most in a player. What increased Walsh’s stock value was that ability to arouse and activate those around him to do the same. Tony Browne once said that the first time he ran into Walsh as a 19-year old, he knew that he was “made of steel”.
Advertisement
He just needed the polish for it to shine. As a minor Walsh had chosen football over hurling when the demands on his time in his Leaving Cert year forced him to make a decision. In his fresher year in Waterford IT, Walsh didn’t make the Fitzgibbon Cup team but he soon began to make his mark. He was athletic and rangy but his athleticism didn’t set him apart. His stamina levels were on a par with the group but his iron will drove him to another level. In matches, he kept going and going like an Energiser Bunny on Duracell batteries. His hurling though, had to improve if he was to really go anywhere. Gradually, it did.
Coming from where he did has enhanced his status because Stradbally was always traditionally a football club. Before Walsh, Andy Fleming in the 1940s was the last Stradbally player to establish himself on the Waterford hurling team but there was an asterisk over that achievement because he played his club hurling with Mount Sion. For Walsh, those were the odds stacked against his breakthrough.
He was part of Stradbally’s run to five senior county football titles in a row between 2001-05 and there were also good days in between with Waterford’s footballers. He was a critical part of the Waterford U-21 side which won the county’s first Munster title in 2003, defeating a star-studded Kerry team, with Colm Cooper, Kieran Donaghy and Declan O’Sullivan, in the final.
Walsh was already playing for the senior footballers by then but when Waterford were defending their Munster U-21 football title in 2004, Walsh’s importance to the hurlers was beginning to grow. The Munster semi-final against Kerry was fixed too close to the All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Kilkenny and Walsh’s request to play was turned down. After Stradbally lost the Munster club final that December, Walsh elected to concentrate solely on hurling with Waterford.
As he began to establish himself, he played wherever Waterford asked or needed him; centre-field, centre-forward, full-forward, wing-forward, centre-back. He was also a born leader. Walsh has already done three stints as Waterford captain.
Advertisement
His nickname came from school. One of Walsh’s older brothers was known as ‘Block’ and ‘Brick’ seemed like the perfect connection. It was the ideal name because it captured everything about Walsh. Solid.
Walsh doesn’t drink or smoke. He is very religious. On the Sunday morning after Waterford lost to Wexford in the 2003 qualifiers in Nowlan Park, the U-21 footballers were training at 9am in Abbeyside. Walsh was half an hour late but he had a legitimate excuse. Having been unable to go to mass the previous evening so he went instead at 8am the next morning. When Waterford played Clare in their opening league game in 2013, they stayed in Limerick the previous night. The bus was delayed for the trip to Ennis because Walsh had gone off to mass.
After prayer though, the warrior always appears. When Waterford go to war, Walsh is always the first into battle, sword and shield always at the ready, always prepared to fight until the very end.