Remembering the great John Joe Walsh

There are many club stalwarts across this country, but few can truly claim the scope of influence and impact that John Joe Walsh had on St Laurences.

A near unwavering presence until his death last year through playing, coaching and endless administration. John Joe oversaw the rise of the club from Junior B to an eventual Senior Football Championship win in 2009.

A Mayo man and perhaps one of the world’s greatest blow-ins as a result. However, having arrived to Blackhall, Calverstown at age 16, there are few, if any, more firmly embedded within the fabric of the amber and red of St Laurences than John Joe Walsh.

Those who paid tribute to him hail his welcoming demeanour and selflessness. A quote from author Barabara Coloroso goes a small way to summing up his philosophy of life.

“The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.”

John Joe only grew more well-known and beloved the more he gave to people. He even had an infamous quote of his own, “Leave it with me; I’ll see what I can do!”

One man who became as close as anyone to John Joe was his brother-in-law Paddy Murphy, who had a long-standing family and GAA relationship with the legendary former St Laurences chairman.

“He was the gel that held Laurence's together. He was there at the very start in 1957. Laurence's is a strange club in that there is no real town base, it has Calverstown, Narraghmore and Kilmead areas. When you have that, things tend to get clique-y depending on which of these areas you are from,” Paddy explained.

“John Joe transcended all that. He was the link between them all and was a special person. He rose to the very top too. He was on the CCC in the GAA, but he could have had a meeting in Croke Park at 7pm on a Friday evening and at 11am Saturday he was out training five and six year olds in St Laurence’s, right up until the time he died. He was embedded within the club.”

Paddy also recalled one particular anecdote about the great Laurence's man, who gave so much to both his club and Kildare, but never forgot where he came from. It all came about while John Joe was a scout for Mick O’Dwyer in the late '90s and Paddy and a few others travelled up to a Kildare league game against Mayo.

“Myself, John Joe, Mick Gorman, three or four of us went to Mayo. I drove us to Charlestown for a league play-off. We were standing on the bank in Charlestown and Kildare were cruising, seven or eight points in front and then Mayo got a goal. Not much about it, but then they got another one and your man (John Joe) was standing in among us and he goes ‘YESSSS’ and we all turned around saying you are a bloody scout for Mick O’Dwyer what do you mean yes? I told him he could walk home. He couldn’t hold it in, he was Mayo to the core at the end of the day,” Paddy laughed.

There are fantastic stories of John Joe Walsh spanning decades. One man who played with John Joe when he was donning amber and red himself was Bernard Higgins, who recalls hearing about both him and Peter Archold when they were making their return to the club.

“My early days of playing with him he was a forward. He was a gifted and stylish footballer, but it was when he moved to full-back that he really came into his own. His reading of the game was just exceptional. I remember when he was in the forwards and you’d give him a bad ball you would know he was annoyed when he stood with his hands on his hips looking at you,” Bernard laughed.

The St Laurence's team's ascension through the ranks from Junior B to Senior would of course not be in vain, when, many years later, they had not only kept their Senior status, but won the big one and were crowned Kildare Senior Football Champions in 2009.

“I remember seeing him on the day and you just knew by the emotion in the man that to get to the top was an unbelievable feeling for him. We had missed out in two finals before that in 2004 (Allenwood) and 2005 (Sarsfields) and you thought it was one of those dreams that was never going to be achieved. I know how I felt in 2009, so I can only really imagine how he felt who had given a lot more service than I had,” Bernard said.

The culmination of a lifetime of work had reached its pinnacle as Mossy Doyle hoisted the trophy in St Conleth’s Park, and if those players were the heroes of the hour, John Joe Walsh was the hero of the day.

Paddy Murphy added about the 2009 win, “We were on the pitch in Newbridge after the final whistle, which is the best time, and the amount of guys from other clubs all over Kildare that looked for him because he was St Laurence's. He was the man that this was the pinnacle for. He was the guy that everyone was looking for, to shake hands with, and give a hug to because it was so special. It struck me that day with how many people came looking for him.”

However, achieving the highest honour in Kildare Senior football was only part of what John Joe saw as his responsibility within the club. Martin Miley, and indeed everyone spoken to for this piece made special mention of John Joe’s tireless contribution to GAA in the local area and national schools.

“He was such an important factor in many people's lives. Every child from four years old up would know John Joe’s name, but even more importantly he knew their name,” Martin said.

“He was a phenomenal ambassador for our club, his personality drew people in and got everyone involved. He recognised somebody that might have been struggling a bit with football or maybe wanting to give up and he would work his socks off to make sure that they didn’t. Nobody was left behind.”

Paddy Murphy added about John Joe’s contribution to local football, “He was training kids in Laurence's at five or six years of age and they were the kids of people he did that with 30-40 years ago. The school in Crookstown honoured him with a bench because he was an institution down there. In his 80s he was going to the school in Kilmead to give kids their first taste of Gaelic football, about how to catch and kick and he did that right up until the time he died.”

It was far from all work and no play for John Joe either, whose infectious humour and personality was present through his work and leisure time. In particular, when the club members needed a stirring rendition of one of the classics.

“We got him to sing My Way on stage at the club’s Strictly Come Dancing. We hijacked him and threw him on stage, but he was a man for the craic and he went with it and the crowd went with him. It was the quality of the man, I couldn’t pay enough tributes to him,” Martin recalled.

John Joe Walsh has since departed following a lifetime of achievement and five lifetimes of memories. It is within the latter where he lives on, in people’s thoughts of a man with endless character and many recollections of his voice bellowing Sean South of Garryowen in Old Grange.

He will not be forgotten.