'NOEL TIPP'S MY LOYALTY SCALES'

Cats great Walsh delighted pal McGrath drove Premier to All-Ireland win

- BY GARRY DOYLE

SPECIAL DAY Tipperary's Noel McGrath lifts the Liam MacCarthy Cup with his son Sam at Croke Park in July

THERE may only have been one man in Kilkenny who wanted Tipperary to win this year’s All-Ireland — and that man was a Triple All-Ireland winner with the Cats.

Walter Walsh can laugh about it now, the sight of blue and gold ribbons decorating the Liam MacCarthy Cup, the kind of image that would curdle the blood of your average Kilkenny supporter.

But not Walsh. Not this time.

Because, while rivalries shape hurling counties, friendships shape hurling men — and Walsh's bond with Noel McGrath goes back to a college house, to shared meals, shared stresses, shared dreams. And shared fear.

It was in that same house that McGrath, then just 19, was told he had testicular cancer. He told his friends quietly, almost matter-of-factly. And Walsh remembers the journey that followed — the surgery, the treatment, the uncertainty.

So when McGrath clipped over the last score of this year’s All-Ireland final, sealing Tipp’s triumph, Walsh didn't feel the stab of rivalry. He felt something else entirely.

“Did Tipp winning the All-Ireland hurt?” he repeats, before giving an answer you wouldn't expect to hear. “Yeah, look you don't want to see it anywhere else but in Kilkenny,” he says. “And it's been a while since it's been back in Kilkenny.

“Look, Tipperary had a great year and they deserve to be All-Ireland champions. You could see that some of the young players that they brought on, the likes of Darragh McCarthy and these guys, made a massive impact on that team.”

But it was one of the elder statesmen he thought of when the final whistle went.