For all that Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh achieved in hurling, there’s a strong constituency in Waterford that believe it wasn’t even his number one sport.
Before setting an all-time record of 76 SHC appearances, Brick turned out twice for the footballers, scoring a goal in both of their games in the 2002 Championship.
The following year he starred as Waterford beat a star-studded Kerry side managed by Jack O’Connor to win the Munster under-21 football title, but by then his head had been turned by the senior hurlers and his inter-county football career was effectively over.
Former Waterford football boss John Kiely was asked last year, ahead of Brick’s record-breaking appearance against Cork, to assess his prowess as a footballer in light of all he had achieved in hurling.
“I know he played hurling for Waterford and he’s won three or four All Stars and he’s been an outstanding servant to the county in hurling, top class, but to me he was a way better footballer,” said Kiely at the time. “I know he only played a very short time for the county but I find it very hard to find players that played for Waterford that were better than him.
“He’d be what any inter-county manager today would be looking for in a footballer. A man with a massive engine, great hands and brave, leadership qualities, everything that you’d look for he had it, yeah.
“And a hard man as well. You could always count on him. Rarely if ever carried injuries or anything like that and but he was prepared to go through the pain barrier.
“He’s a real hard man. I’d associate a hard man as not somebody that’d go out and dish out punishment.
“To me a hard man is a man that can go out and take it and drive on and that’s the kind of a man he is. He’s a man that you’d be proud of in every way.
“Like Stradbally won 10 football championships and I firmly believe that without the Brick Walsh, they might have only won about two. That’s how good a footballer he is.”
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