Former Cork dual star reveals why he doesn’t attend Cork Hurling matches

Former Cork dual star Aidan Walsh admitted he has attended only one Cork senior hurling match since leaving the panel in 2020.

The now 35-year-old, who won a Munster Hurling title in 2014 with the Rebels, was 30 when he received the news of being cut from the hurling set-up by Kieran Kingston.

The former All-Ireland winner told the BBC’s GAA Social podcast, that he found it “very tough to deal with” when receiving the news.

Walsh said: “It was the first time a manager told me he didn’t want me. It was the first time I got that kind of call.”

“It was a big shock and I was just disappointed then. You just reflect a lot on what I could have done better, what should I have done, if I never went to the hurling could I still be playing football (for Cork) after leaving in ’14. I should have rang him back just to get clarification – just to get that closure really or if the door was half open, what do I need to do.”

Walsh reflected on his time as a Cork hurler, where he “loved the environment” and that he has great friends in the squad. Despite this, he revealed the only match he’s attended since his departure has been the 2021 All-Ireland final defeat to Limerick.

He said: “I just still feel that bit bitter towards it. I’d still go to all the football games, my brother plays and my cousin, but I still have that bit of bitterness in me for some reason. I didn’t go to the All-Ireland final last year, I was down west. I watched it alright but I watched it on my own.”

“When you’re young and feel fit and I was still playing good hurling for the club, I was still contributing, and especially when you have players that you played with who are still playing, it just feels a bit bitter towards it. And I hope to God they win the All-Ireland this year, I really wanted them to win last year and every year I wanted them to win.”

Walsh added: “But even the game I went to, the All-Ireland final against Limerick the year after, people were coming up to me going, ‘Jesus, what happened? Why did you get dropped?’ I didn’t want to listen to it. That’s nearly the worst part of going to Cork games.

“Even at the football a few people came up the last day saying ‘did you bring the gear’. I know you’d laugh at those kinds of comments but they’re annoying because it’s only a small period of your life that you’d get to play for your county and it’s a privilege to play. And it’s over, it’s gone, you can’t bring it back.”

Walsh regretted not taking up the GPA’s offer for help and guidance when being released, as he told himself he would be “grand” and “get through it”

“Everything revolved around it for me, so for that to be gone…on reflection I should have reached out to the GPA and got that bit of guidance and help they were offering.”