Tommy Walsh (Kerry Footballer) - Gaelic Football

Gaelic Football

In 2008, Walsh was selected in the team for the first game of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship following some impressive NFL performances in the full-forward line. Walsh made his championship debut came against Clare in the Munster Senior Football Championship, scoring a point. He did not start in the Munster final, which Kerry lost to Cork, but came on as a substitute for the last few minutes. He regained his place and a number of impressive performances saw him named as All Stars Young Footballer of the Year.

Later in the year, having resisted previous approaches from the Australian Football League, Walsh agreed to spend one week of preseason training with Australian Rules Football club, St Kilda. Players' agent Ricky Nixon described it as a 'big coup' for the AFL and said '"I can’t tell you if he’ll want to play or stay or if he’ll be good enough but he’s definitely one of the best talents that I’ve seen." However, Walsh later withdrew from the original trial and did not travel to Australia before the recruitment deadline, although he accepted an invitation to spend some time training with St Kilda.

In 2009, Walsh suffered injury in the early part of the championship, which saw Kerry knocked out of Munster by Cork. Kerry came through the qualifiers to meet Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final, but Walsh was not on top form and was replaced before half-time. He was dropped from the team but came on as a substitute during the second half of the semi-final, and a more impressive performance saw him regain his place for the final, in which he notched up four points from play as Kerry overcame Cork.