Willie Walsh
Sometimes the most obvious things escape the mind’s eye. A piece (not here) on Roanmore clubman Michael Wadding’s appointment as referee of Sunday’s hurling showpiece between our mutual neighbours in last week’s edition overlooked the fact that none other than Willie Walsh, the man after whom Walsh Park is named, took charge of no fewer than seven All-Ireland finals, including five successive ones from 1915-’19, the 1921 dual deciders, and the second replay in 1931.
The other Waterford men mentioned as having had the ‘official’ honour were Dan Fraher (1892), Vin Baston (1945) and John Moore, who was the whistler when Cork beat Galway to clinch the first par of the double in 1990.
Incidentally, on the two previous occasions (1916 and ’45) that a Kilkenny–Tipperary final was refereed by a Waterford man, the Premier County won.
