Sitting in front of a whiteboard at Good Counsel College, Walter Walsh takes a moment to calculate how many of his Tullogher-Rosbercon teammates have been his students. "15 or 16," says the three-time Kilkenny All-Ireland hurling championship winner, a Junior Cert science and Leaving Cert agricultural science and biology teacher. "It’s a very young panel."
This weekend, 15 years on from losing the AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship final to Dripsey, Tullogher-Rosbercon have again entered the home straight at the grade. Another Cork team, this time St Catherine's, are final the final hurdle.
Walsh was just a 17-year-old - though you would not have guessed it given his size - when the club won the 2008 Kilkenny junior title.
9 January 2024; AIB ambassadors and hurlers, Walter Walsh of Tullogher Rosbercon, left, and Shane Cotter of St Catherine's pictured ahead of this weekend's AIB GAA Club Hurling All-Ireland Junior Championship Final, between St Catherines and Tullogher Rosbercon. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
"It was my first year playing with the minor Kilkenny team," says Walsh.
"I came into that minor Kilkenny team very late as well, I was drafted in May when some of the other lads were doing the Leaving Cert and then I got kept in and ended up starting against Tipperary in an All-Ireland semi-final and we won that year. That year we won with Tullogher as well. I was 17 and still in school in fifth year in May 2008.
"I was after winning a minor All-Ireland with Kilkenny and then a county and Leinster Final with Tullogher in 2008 and I thought this hurling thing is great, you win all the time!
"I found out the next year it's not like that because I lost three All-Ireland Finals in 2009. With Tullogher we got beaten in that final, and then with Good Counsel College we got to the All-Ireland Final and Thurles CBS beat us in that one.
"And then Galway beat us in the minor All-Ireland. So I was quickly brought back down to earth and found out this hurling thing isn't all just winning and celebrating."
15 February 2009; Walter Walsh, Tullogher Roshercon, in action against Pat O'Riordain, Dripsey. AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship Final, Dripsey, Cork v Tullogher Roshercon, Kilkenny, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: Ray Lohan / SPORTSFILE
The 32-year-old Walsh is now the third oldest on the 33-man Tullogher-Rosbercon panel. Centre-back Pat Hartley, now 37, is the only other survivor from that 2009 game while substitute goalkeeper Eoin Ryan is a year older than Walsh. Richie Dollard, Jack Cotterill and Martin Buchall, players in 2009, are now part of the management team under Wexford man Michael Doyle.
Four years after being relegated from intermediate level in Kilkenny, Tullogher made the step back up to the second tier when they defeated St Lachtain's by five points in October's junior final.
The intention had been to bounce straight back up but junior level in Kilkenny had become far more competitive than it was 15 years previous. "You nearly have to serve your time down there and realise how challenging it is," says Walsh.
"We’re down four years and you cherish it that bit more."
In 2021, Tullogher-Rosbercon reached their first ever Kilkenny minor A hurling final, though they lost to Dicksboro by a point. It was a sign of the talent coming through at underage level.
Good Counsel College, Walsh's alma mater and where he has been teaching for the last six years, is located in the Wexford town of New Ross just over the O'Hanrahan Bridge from Rosbercon. Walsh has been able to keep a close eye on the progress of Tullogher's young players.
23 July 2023; Walter Walsh of Kilkenny during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
"I could see a lot of these lads that are really, really talented," says Walsh.
"They're all on the teams here, and it's hard to make a team in Good Counsel, hurling or football. They were all on the teams, there's loads of Tullogher lads on it. Whereas when I was here there weren't many of us at all on teams.
"So I could see the talent coming. I knew it was coming, but it's great to see the proof of it by winning a county final and going to play in an All-Ireland Final now on Saturday."
Walsh says being a teacher by day and teammate at training later that evening is a "weird dynamic".
"Even this year there's two, Niall Mooney and Marty Murphy, who are sixth years here in the school," says Walsh.
"You're winning county finals with these lads and you're training with them. They definitely see a different side to me in the classroom and on the field because you're training and trying to relax and it's a bit of fun and a bit of craic whereas in here you have to be a bit more professional.
"I'd say they're kind of looking at me and thinking ‘Does this lad have two different personalities or what's going on?’ But you have to be professional and treat those lads the same as all the other students. You're here in school to do a job, to educate, and outside of school you're a normal person and maybe the lads might struggle to see that as well.
"Even last year's crop of sixth years, I think I was teaching six or seven of the lads who are on the club team as well. It is strange, but if we win on Saturday it won't be strange at all, we'll enjoy it.
"You celebrate winning a county final like you would winning an All-Ireland final with Kilkenny. It means so much to myself and obviously the people in our parish and club."
This season, AIB will honour #TheToughest players in Gaelic Games - those who persevere no matter what, giving their all for their club and community. AIB is in its 33rd year supporting the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships.
See Also: After 'Positive Chat' Three-Time All-Ireland Made Kilkenny Decision
