Mayo man helps end wait for club success in Kildare

Compared to wait Mayo fans have had to experience, seven years does not feel like a long time to wait for a title.

However, as Sarsfields manager Vinnie Walsh explains, it was seen as a famine for the Kildare side.

In his third season in charge, he was the one who brought it to an end, as they defeated Maynooth in the senior Kildare football final.

Speaking to the Western People, he said: “Seven years since Sarsfields won a title, as they would call it up here, a famine. I was laughing, do you know what famine is if you think seven years is a famine?

“The longer it goes on, the number of boys in the panel with a panel gets smaller, and the amount without a medal gets bigger, so it is nice to close that gap and keep that tradition going in the club.

“You take the Sarsfields job with the expectation that they expect you to deliver the county title, so there was that pressure from the start.

“I was very clear with them, this might take a year or two, or three to build it up, it is not just going to happen.

“We were very unlucky with our two semi-final defeats, so it could happen in year one, but I tried to take that pressure off myself that it didn’t have to happen immediately.

“It was easy to say now look back and say that this was part of the plan, but if this year didn’t go to plan, it would be a fourth year and the pressure of a big club does start to pile on.” Walsh has been in the Kildare club scene for a number of years, where his influence has continued to grow across the county.

A county title was always the aim, but he outlined what steps were needed first before silverware.

“I was selling them the bigger picture of developing a bigger panel, getting young lads better conditioned, playing better panel, developing a bigger panel of over 40 players to be able to compete at senior and reserve.

“The players bought into it that it was bigger than the county title. I want to win a county title more than anybody, but if I don’t, I will always leave the place in a better place than I got it.

“It really just started to gather pace during the summer.” Despite the progress made, the final threw up its own issues, as Maynooth’s approach took Sarsfields by surprise.

0-6 each at half-time as Sarsfields looked for answers, and the management team’s conversations were vital as they ran out 1-14 to 1-10 winners.

“Looking at Maynooth in the last few games, we would press high up the pitch and go after teams, and we trust that our fitness levels and conditioning will run teams to the ground eventually.

“However, Maynooth had been sitting back and letting teams run on to them and forcing the mistake and hitting them on the counter. We were expecting that to happen.

“I was taken back in the first half when they came and met us high up the pitch. We played very similar tactics, which meant their was no space between the two 45s to transition plays. There was no way of settling down for a controlled play for a two-point shot.

“At half-time, I was talking to my selectors, and I just said one: we have to get closer to foal because the two-point shots are not on, there are one-pointers in behind that pressure.

“The other tactic is to look at each other and say, will we outlast them. Will we keep going with that tactic of high press and will we outlast them? It took until about the 40th minute mark, I saw the first break in them stopping to come out to us, so it was that gamble that our fitness would see us through.” After some celebrations, Sarsfields face arguably the toughest task in club football right now, as they take on Dublin champions Cuala, who won the All-Ireland in 2025.

Coming down from the high of winning a county title will be a challenge, but Walsh is excited by the upcoming challenge, as they plan for a shock to attempt to won their first ever Leinster title.

“I am not going to be one of those guys going around saying we are in bonus territory, it doesn’t really matter, it does. The club has 26 Kildare titles, but no Leinsters. We have to get past Cuala, but we are going to give it a right go.

“I think all county champions have something about them. If we were going down to play the Louth, Wicklow, or Carlow champions, and if we win we say it is a tough game, and if you don’t win it, people say ye left that one behind ye.

“We are going up to Parnell Park to face Cuala, they are the All-Ireland favourites. It does give us a bit of, let's get our homework done, let's believe in it, and let's have a go. If we don’t win it, it is Cuala. My big one would be that we give it a proper shot and we perform.

“Cuala in Parnell Park, I love that it is our first challenge.”