Walter Walsh is your quintessential full forward.
The Tullogher Rosbercon club man is one of hurling’s biggest men. Standing at over 6 ft 5 in tall, the former Leinster rugby trialist is built like a brick wall too.
Along with Paudie Maher, Kilkenny’s unorthodox attacking weapon is without doubt the most frightening physical specimen in the game.
On top of being a big, burly immovable object, the man who burst onto the scene in 2012 with his man-of-the-match performance in the All-Ireland final is also well able to hurl.
Deceptively accurate, big Wally can pick points from all angles. He has a sharp first touch too that will rarely let him down.
He’s also adept at plucking high balls from the sky and making an absolute himself an absolute nuisance for every marker that goes head to hip with him (That, admittedly, is a bit of an exaggeration.)
He has all the characteristics of a target man. That big full forward to rain balls in on top of.
Surprisingly, it’s very rare that Brian Cody details Walsh with an edge of the square manning job. Instead, while he’s often named at number 14, it’s more common that you’ll see him roaming around the half forward line and picking up possession further out the field.
This is as clear an indication as any of Kilkenny’s style now. Cody’s forward unit will inter-change so much in a game that most of them will have lined out in each attacking position at some stage in the 70 minutes.
With Kilkenny placing more emphasis on a close-range passing game so far this year, this movement and flexibility of their players is key to that so that opponents find it more difficult to stay tight on them.
Lee Chin, having lost to the Cats last weekend, is more familiar with this style than most, and he tried to explain it on Thursday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show.
“You can see at the moment that Kilkenny are trying to modernise their game. They’re working the ball out from the back, they’re throwing the ball around a lot more, they’re doing a lot of things that Cody wouldn’t have allowed to happen a couple of years ago.
“They’re retaining possession, they’re working the ball up the field. And it is hard to stop, they’re very comfortable with it…It’s very hard to break down.”
It all means that Wally Walsh isn’t left in at number 14 for too long.
“One thing that stood out the most for me last weekend with Kilkenny – they were playing with a gale force wind and they’d Walter Walsh, who’s about 6 ft 5 in, drifting around the field, it’s clearly new tactics from them,” said Wooly.
The big man has been named at full forward for Sunday’s League final clash with Tipperary, but former Laois manager Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett feels he’ll be roaming around again.
“The mobility of players, particularly in forwards, is very, very different now. If you look at Kilkenny, just look at their use of Walter Walsh. A number of years ago, he would have been playing at 14, but they rarely play him there anymore…They’re looking for different ways of playing.
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“I think it will be the traditional six backs and six forwards, but there will be a lot of mobility compared to what we’ve seen a couple of years ago.”
We might even see him go face to face with Tipperary’s centre back Maher, the only hurler in the country who could match him physically.
“Well, ideally, you like to keep changing the type of player that’s on him (Paudie Maher). You keep him guessing, you have to engage his mind the whole time and not let him settle in on his own game.”
It’s set to be another interesting sub plot to another cracking game.
You can listen to this chat and much more from The GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
