Historic Day for the Brick

            Sometime after tomorrow’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship game between Waterford and Cork at Thurles, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh is expected to announce that he has played his last every competitive game of hurling for the county that he has served so faithfully for a decade and a half.

            But it might not be really be a surprise to find out that there is no fanfare announcement.

            In recent times many inter county players in both hurling and football when they take time away from the game or decide to call a day to their playing career issue a carefully crafted statement through their county board, announcing that ‘Player X’ has decided following consultation with the county manager that he intends to travel for some while, or is taking time out to finish his studies, while some of told us that following much deliberations ‘Player Y’ has told their county manager that they no longer want to be considered for selection for whatever reason, often because of having young families and the time they spend away from them when you are an inter county player.

            But not all players go down this road. Some players seem to bow out of the inter county scene and indeed the club scene without any fanfare. Yes, many people will know that they are calling time on their inter county or club playing careers, but there is no big announcements.

            It would be no real surprise to see the Stradbally club man decide to go down this road, should Sunday be the last time we see him in the White and Blue of Waterford in a competitive game for the last time.

            Whenever the Stradbally club man does call time on his inter county career, he and indeed the thousands of people that have seen him hurl for Waterford over the past fifteen years can look back on what was a marvellous career.

            In his time as a Waterford senior hurler we have seen him win three Munster Senior Hurling winners medals, two National League Medals, play in two All-Ireland Finals, and win four Hurling All-Stars.

            Before winning any of these titles, the Stradbally club man who completed his education he helped Waterford Institute of Technology win three Fitzgibbon Cup titles (2003, 2004 and 2006) while studying Business and Finance.

            In may come as a surprise to some that the Stradbally man was part of the Waterford Senior Football Set up before he was invited to the hurling panel by the then Waterford Manager Justin McCarthy in 2003 having seen something special in him.

            He played two championship games for the Déise County goals in both games, first against Clare and later against Roscommon.

            In 2003, he won his first honours in a White and Blue shirt and again it was in football as he helped his side win a Munster Under 21 Championship, beating a Kerry side that included Colm Cooper, Bryan Sheehan, Declan Quill and Declan O’Sullivan in the Provincial Final. Sadly for football in Waterford, no great work was done after this win to really promote and push football in the Déise County. In the All-Ireland semi final, Waterford had to settle for second best against Dublin.

            It was in 2003 that he made his championship debut for Waterford coming on as a sub for Tony Browne in a win over Kerry. Twelve months later he helped Waterford win a Second Munster final in three years, this time against Cork in Thurles in what has often being described as the best ever Munster Senior Hurling final.

            In 2007 Justin McCarthy named the Stradbally man as his captain, and Waterford under his leadership won a first National League Final since 1963. Waterford also won the Munster Final again that same year and played Limerick in the All-Ireland semi final, but playing three weekends in a row, two against Cork in a quarter final and a replay many claim took a lot out of Waterford for that game against Limerick who went on to win the game.

            The Stradbally man would help his side go that one step further in 2008 and contest an All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny, but Waterford on the day were to suffer a heavy loss to their near neighbours.

            The Stradbally man would however get to contest one more All-Ireland as he was instrumental in helping Waterford reach last year’s final against Galway, but again defeat was to be Waterford’s lot on the day.

            There would be some that would say that the tactics used in both finals were to be Waterford’s downfall and had Waterford been able to play hurling as they can, then the Stradbally man would have at least one All-Ireland medal in his collection now.

            In between his two All-Ireland Final appearances Michael Walsh won another Munster Medal, helping Waterford under the guidance of Davy Fitzgerald to win the final of 2010 after a replay and the first to finish under the floodlighting at Semple Stadium.

            While it is expected that this weekend will be the last time we will see him play a competitive hurling game in the White and Blue, we can be certain that he will be playing in the Red and White of Stradbally for some time to come.

            He is a key player for the Covesiders since his teenage years and has helped his side to win ten County Senior Football Championships since the turn of the Millennium.

            His club currently site joint top of the roll of honour with Dungarvan for Championships won (19 each) and should he help his side win again this year it will make them the most successful football side in the Déise County ever. But he and his teammates will know that there will be a lot of clubs that will want to make them wait that little bit longer yet before that can claim that accolade.

            For many years former Cork great Christy Ring made the most championship appearances for his county, playing for the rebels sixty five times between 1940 and 1962.

            Since then, thanks in no small part to a restructuring of the championships and giving players at least two games to play each year, players like Tony Browne who hurled for Waterford between 1992 and 2014 equalled the record set by the Cork man, while Kilkenny great JJ Delaney between 2001 and 2014 played one more game than Christy Ring and Tony Browne, another Kilkenny great Henry Shefflin made seventy one championship appearances between 1999 and 2014, two short of the current record held by former Tipperary goalkeeper Brendan Cummins between 1995 and 2013.

            But on Sunday afternoon when the ball is thrown in at Thurles Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh who equalled the Tipperary mans appearance record last Sunday will become that player that made most championship appearances for his county when he lines out for the seventy fourth time.

            Should the Stradbally club man bow out of the game at this level after Sunday’s game, it’s fair to say that we will do so not just as a Waterford hurling legend, but as a hurling legend in general.