On The Ball

Ambitious Cillian Walsh joins Garryowen

August 26th, 2011
by Eamonn Fitzgerald

 Clubs in all sports hate to lose a player to an other club, especially when it has invested so much time and energy getting him/her  to a high level in the chosen sport, but Liam McGuire, chairman of Killarney Rugby Club, looked at it differently when I spoke to him this week about Cillian Walsh , their star player capped for Ireland U/ 18 Youths earlier this year; the young Killarney man recently signed on for Garryowen, the famous Limerick club.

"Upwards and onwards is the way to go and that is what Cillian is doing . Of course we will miss his great ability in the scrum, but it is a huge honour for Cillian to progress to the Irish  international U /18 team this past season. It is also an honour for the Killarney club and for his family. Cillian's parents are Mary and Ray Walsh , both well known in the Killarney area.

CAO points

Cillian was in a celebratory mood when I spoke to him on Monday, D-Day for around 58,000 students who sat the 2011 Leaving Cert. Many wondered if they would get their first choice for 3rd level studies. The first round offers were released by the CAO at 6.00 am and  Cillian exerted yet another successful strike with  the necessary points to study journalism and the new media  in UL.

Another Cillian from Killarney and from another sport will be joining him on the journalism/new media  course. Dr Croke and Kerry minor  footballer  Cillian Fitzgerald had the same good news. Two  undergraduate journalists in the making. It may not be sport of course ,but we can expect that both of these fine young men and dedicated sportsmen will be progressing to higher places. In the meantime they will be treading the well trodden paths of sports journalists writing about people ,who are making the news. They will be adopting the gifts of Janus , the god, who had equal vision looking backwards and forwards. In ancient Roman religion and mythology Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, and so also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two faces on his head, facing opposite directions: one face looks eastward and the other westward. Symbolically they look simultaneously into the future and the past, back at the past academic and sporting years and forward to the next.

Dedicated
Cillian Walsh was very modest about his achievements as we retraced his early sporting steps. He did dabble in other sports, playing with Dr Crokes, Killarney Celtic and St Paul's, but rugby was his first love.

"He was always and still is a very dedicated player and in two seasons that I had him for under-age coaching in our club, he only missed one training session and that was due to a school commitment. Hail, rain and mud it made no difference to Cillian. ;he never let the club or his team mates down. We are very proud of his successes to date, following in the footsteps of Leonard Sullivan, a member of the Irish U/18 squad a few years back", said Liam McGuire. He had some great players in his age group. Connie O Leary  Owen Linell and John Friel were all on the Munster  U/ 18 panel, a great tribute to the under-age structure in the club. How it has developed as a club and we will never forget the sterling work of Sean O Sullivan in particular, who kept the club from folding in more difficult times" , he said.

Meanwhile Cillian continued his studies for the Leaving Cert. and even during the exams he didn't quit on his rigorous gym schedule. During this  summer and the off season he travelled to Fermoy twice a week for squad training and complemented this with his own gym work. "You have to put it in yourself as well as the organised stuff,", he said. He is well in to pre-season now, so the pressure continues. He weighs in at 100 Kg,, a hefty 16 stone or thereabouts and stands at 5 foot 11 inches. For the specialised position of hooker he will be maintaining that weight and will be hoping there won't be any spurt  of growth.

What really goes on in the scrums? That's a question I put to the late great Moss Keane in an interview for this sports' column. " It's all down to timing ", he said as I sought clarification. Howls of laughter as he blurted out " you make sure to keep your eyes open, so that you can get the flake in before  your opponent does. Cillian is very conscious of the critical role of the hooker in the scrums. He also indicates that timing is of the essence in the decision making of the hooker, and his decisions determine the outcome of the scrummages. " If you make the wrong call, or mis-time something the rest of the pack suffers and the coach won't be long bawling you out of it", he said He has been very lucky to avoid any real injury and his only discomforts this week were blistered feet from the hard surfaces.

Dedication brings its own rewards, but there are significant sacrifices. " When my friends are going out to enjoy the night life I often have to bow out , otherwise all my training schedule and the  diet I follow eating the correct foods  can deteriorate vey quickly, It may be pints for them ,but I settle for water when I do go out," he said.

No doubt  all of his friends in Killarney RFC will watch with great interest the progression to greater heights of its bright young star .We wish Cillian all the best in his new life at Limerick, a student in UL and a member of the famous Garryowen club.


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