KERRY FANS CAN rest easy, Tommy Walsh is back and has no intention of returning to resume an AFL career.
Walsh announced last October that he was leaving Sydney Swans to bring a halt to his spell in Australia that began in 2009 when he was drafted by St Kilda.
The 26 year-old took his first steps back into Gaelic football last Saturday night when he played for his club Kerins O’Rahilly’s against All-Ireland club semi-finalists Austin Stacks in the Tralee Town championship final.
He is in line to make his intercounty comeback next Sunday when Kerry play their opening league game against Mayo in Killarney and the 2008 Young Footballer of the Year has closed the door on his Australian Rules career.
“I’m back to play sport here and move on with my life here I certainly couldn’t see myself going back. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of touch and just getting my head back into the game, but I feel ready to play a game. There is a bit of adjustment in terms of getting your sharpness back. I feel pretty fit and feel that I am able to cover the ground.
Walsh insists he has no regrets about his time in Australia, despite being plagued by injuries. In June 2013, Walsh suffered a horror injury when he tore the hamstring off his bone in an AFL game for the Sydney Swans against Essendon. He spent almost twelve months on the sidelines as a result of that incident.
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“As much as I would like to have played more games over there, I definitely don’t have any regrets about the way things went. I had been lucky up to then in my career and even since with injuries. I would have preferred if I didn’t do it but that’s sport.
“When I was back last Christmas (2013) that’s when it first came up about really coming back and that this was probably going to be the last year. Then it was probably July or August that I made up my mind that I was definitely coming back.
“I don’t know what to expect, really. I’m just going to work as hard as I can. It will be a process and I’m looking forward to the challenge of it.”
Walsh didn’t neglect his career off the field when he was in Australia and is set to start working for Ernst & Young in Cork in February.
“I did Commerce in Sydney so I’m going into an accounting company in Cork, starting in February. They set aside periods of every week, self development they call it. You are expected to do something be it a trade or go to college or do work experience.
“That’s set into the CBA, which is an agreement between the AFL and the players. I went to the University of Sydney and did that.”
- This article was first published on 28 January at 23.00pm
