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10th June 2023
02:02pm BST
From Barry Murphy's perspective, it made a lot of sense. He was a dual player himself and, having lost the All-Ireland hurling final to Clare the year before, Walsh looked like he could have been the man to give them that extra push.
"It was all lovely to call yourself a dual player," Walsh reflects now, in an exclusive GAA Hour episode, "and to play hurling and football for Cork but, if I had my time again, would I have stayed with the footballers that time, maybe," he says.
"I was midfield on both teams and by the end of it, I was absolutely spent."
Which brings us to that hurling semi-final. Cork were well beaten, losing to Tipperary by 2-18 to 1-11 and Walsh was taken off with fifteen minutes to go. It was on the way off the pitch when he aplogised to Jimmy Barry Murphy.
"The Tipperary game, the All-Ireland semi-final - we had played Mayo with the footballers a week or two before as well.
"My body just started shutting down. And you're trying your best to push as hard as you could but no matter how much nutrition, by the end of that year, it just all caught up.
"Jimmy always had so much faith in me, and he was so sound and do you know, he took a risk by starting me.
"Whatever he wanted me to do, I'd have done it. Such a nice man too, and such a legend too. So I was so disappointed not to perform to my abilities on the day.
"All I could say was sorry, because the game was gone. He'd put so much faith in me and I just didn't reward him, because of the opportunity he gave me."
Walsh says the whole year was a struggle, and he uses his experience to advise his younger brother Tommy, a dual player who currently plays for the Cork footballers.
"I remember the Thursday before the football, I was driving in the car to training, and I remember just thinking to myself, this is going to be so tough, trying to get through it. To be number nine on both teams, it was going to be so hard, playing some of the best midfielders in the country.
"They're so difficult to get into them Munster finals, but I was just floating away at the time. It was unbelievable that I got the Munster medal, but it was bittersweet because I remember coming off the pitch against Tipperary thinking 'what was it all for?' ending up with nothing, because we were beaten by Mayo too.
"You have to be selfish, even with my brother Tommy, I definitely try to influence him with his decision making, because he's similar, he's a good footballer, but he's a good hurler as well.
"He played underage hurling all the way up, but I made sure to tell him that 'you just pick one now, and focus on that, and don't do what I did,' because it was all lovely to call yourself a dual player, and to play hurling and football for Cork, but if I had my time again, would I have stayed at the football - maybe."
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