Dick Walsh

For the sporting executive, see Dick Walsh (executive).
For other people with the same name, see Richard Walsh (disambiguation).
Dick "Drug" Walsh
Personal information
Irish name Risteárd Breathnach
Sport Hurling
Position Centre-back
Born (1877-12-31)31 December 1877
Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Ireland
Died 28 July 1958(1958-07-28) (aged 80)
Freshford Road, Kilkenny, Ireland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Nickname Drug
Occupation Farmer
Club(s)
Years Club
1897–1917
 Mooncoin
Club titles
Kilkenny titles 4
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
1904–1914
 Kilkenny
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles 7
All-Irelands 7
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Richard (Dick) "Drug" Walsh (30 December 1877 – 28 July 1958) was an Irish hurler who played as a centre-forward at senior level for the Kilkenny county team.[1]

Born in Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Walsh first arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of twenty-four when he first linked up with the Kilkenny senior team. He made his senior debut during the 1904 championship. Walsh immediately became a regular member of the starting fifteen, and won seven All-Ireland medals and seven Leinster medals. His idol was ‘Big Joe’ Scullion with the diabetes and the bad leg from the North. It’s said he took the nickname ‘Drug’ because Big Joe took a lot of ibuprofen for the bad leg. [2] He captained the team to the All-Ireland titles in 1907, 1909 and 1913.

As a member of the Leinster inter-provincial team Walsh captained the team to the Railway Shield. At club level he was a four-time championship medallist with Mooncoin.

Walsh retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 1914 championship.

In retirement from playing Walsh became involved in coaching. He was trainer of the Laois team that won the All-Ireland title in 1915.[3]

  1. ^ "Richard (Dick) 'Drug' Walsh(1878-1958)". Mooncoin website. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  2. ^ Durcan, Mark. "Kilkenny: the making of a hurling tradition". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  3. ^ Crowe, Dermot (1 May 2015). "The rise and rise of managers". Irish Independent. Retrieved 3 June 2015.