Waterford’s bid for a breakthrough All-Ireland hurling title in 2017 has received a timely boost with the news that Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh will play on for another season.
The 33-year-old, a former captain who is considered key to manager Derek McGrath’s MacCarthy Cup hopes, has returned to pre-season training with Waterford.
Lining out for a 15th season will place the three-time All-Star among the GAA’s longest-serving players, having been reinvented as an attacker in McGrath’s counter-attacking, hard-running setup.
The Stradbally man had a direct hand in 1-8 of Waterford’s 1-21 tally in this year’s drawn All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny and is expected to be joined by Kevin Moran, another elder statesman of the setup, in the 2017 panel.
Waterford under McGrath have proven to be a rejuvenated force, with back-to-back Allianz League final appearances in the last two seasons, including a title win in 2015. They also made it to the All-Ireland semi-final in each of those years. They were knocked out of the Championship by Kilkenny on both occasions although they took the latter to a replay this year. They now feel they are getting close to a first final since 2008 and, ultimately, their first All-Ireland win since 1959.
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Kilkenny, the Championship’s dominant force with 11 All-Ireland titles since 2000, do not have quite such a happy camp. They have lost Eoin Larkin and Jackie Tyrrell to retirement — the last two players to have been part of the four-in-a-row heroics of 2006 to 2009.
There are also question marks over Michael Fennelly, their experienced midfielder, and his ability to shake off an achilles problem that would allow him to return to the inter-county game.
Ger Aylward, an All-Star in his breakthrough season of 2015, should at least be back during the Allianz League following cruciate trouble, while James Maher — a talented young hurler who shattered his knee earlier this year — is nearing a full recovery too.
It is likely that manager Brian Cody will still have to look to youth, and his comments the morning after September’s All-Ireland final defeat by Tipperary were telling.
“There are players on our panel who haven’t been seen yet who will be top players, and quickly. You can rest assured of that,” Cody said.
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The Kilkenny squad will travel to San Diego for a team holiday over the new year and will return to compete in the Walsh Cup, the pre-season competition that Cody has often chosen to ignore.
Tipperary, for the first time since 2011, will begin the year as the team to catch. Paddy Stapleton and Conor O’Brien have retired since September’s All-Ireland triumph, though O’Brien didn’t feature at all in this year’s Championship and Stapleton had similarly fallen out of favour.
The remaining retirement question surrounds Darragh Gleeson, the Tipp goalkeeper, who turns 36 in March. He had to bide his time behind Brendan Cummins for several years and having only nailed down a regular slot in 2014, he may be keen to stay on.
Galway, the 2012 and 2015 finalists, are third favourites to claim the big prize next year, although they will be without several household names and former captains in 2017.
David Collins, Fergal Moore and Andy Smith, all former skippers, as well as Cyril Donnellan and Iarla Tannian, have not been part of Micheal Donoghue’s 40-man winter training squad. Donoghue was only appointed two days before last Christmas so this will be his first full pre-season with his panel.
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Clare’s young panel is expected to remain entirely intact under Donal O’Connor and Gerry Moloney, the new joint management team, though it’s not yet clear whether Pat Donnellan, the 2013 All-Ireland winning captain, and Seadna Morey intend to resume their county careers following cruciate layoffs.
Davy Fitzgerald, who stepped down as Clare manager in September and was appointed at Wexford 16 days later, has created such a buzz in the south-east that players are returning to the county panel.
Jack Guiney, perhaps Wexford’s most talented forward, had been on and off the panel in recent seasons under Liam Dunne, the former manager, but has given a full commitment to Fitzgerald.
Dual players have been accommodated by Wexford’s hurling and football managers in the past, although Fitzgerald said it won’t be a problem for him and Seamus McEnaney, the county’s new football manager.
“I don’t think we have any dual situation there, I haven’t come across it,” Fitzgerald said. “I think Seamus has his panel and I have my panel and we’ll work away on that basis.”
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The Cork and Limerick hurling panels have so far remained retirement-free zones, although Ger Cunningham, the Dublin manager, is moving forth with a new-look squad following his cull of a group of players and the decisions of Paul Ryan and Peter Kelly to quit. David O’Callaghan, the veteran forward, is struggling to overcome a back injury.