Shane Walsh: We’re all new to these rules and someone has to try and grasp it

For Shane Walsh, Christmas will come more than a tad early this year, with the official turning-on of the lights that really matter.

On the last Saturday of this month, Pearse Stadium will host Galway and Armagh in the opening round of the Allianz League; the All-Ireland final rematch illuminated by Salthill’s new floodlights.

In truth, it could be argued that the lights on Walsh’s own career have dulled a little over the past couple of seasons, where form and fitness have at times been elusive.

On Saturday evening, he was a spectator in Newbridge, where Galway warmed up for the new season with a high-profile challenge game against Kildare under the game’s new rules, but he is aiming to have a more active role when the season begins for real in three weeks.

With good reason, too. Ever since what was seen as a career-defining performance in the 2022 All-Ireland final when he racked up 0-9 – a display widely acclaimed as the best by an individual on a losing team in a decider since Peter Canavan’s one-man show for Tyrone against Dublin in 1995 – he has only managed to offer flashes of the genius he possesses.

The most recent came in last season’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin, when he struck for 0-7 – including 0-3 from play on an evening that flipped the Championship on its head – but otherwise, much of last summer was a struggle.Out of Galway’s 10 Championship games, he only started and finished in four, which included the final where he struggled to find any rhythm.

It could be argued that it has been hard for Walsh to find his stride because, for the past two seasons, he has pretty much had to make do with a standing start.

He has started in just four out of Galway’s 15 Allianz League games in that time, with an extended championship season with Kilmacud – to whom he transferred from Kilkerrin-Clonberne in 2022 – disrupting the 2023 campaign, while last year he was limited to an opening-round appearance against Mayo.

In the final minute of that game in Salthill, he aggravated a groin injury that would rule him out for three months, and all summer it cast a shadow over his match fitness.

This season feels different – Kilmacud’s county final defeat to Cuala proving to be a mixed blessing – for an obvious reason, insists the 31-year-old.

"Thankfully the break came, and I haven’t had that break probably in the last two years," he admits.

"It’s great because I was able to get on top of things and put in a bank of work as well. I’m nearly there now, and it’s great seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in that sense.

"I took part in training last week and it was brilliant to be back with the lads again because it feels weird when you are doing your running and your rehab on your own. The big thing is to have a bit of downtime to strengthen the body again because you are going game-on-game, and it’s every two weeks for the last couple of years, so you don’t get the time to strengthen your body in the off-season.

"I really haven’t had an off-season or done the pre-season, so that would be the big thing for me. I had to get my body stronger again.

"It was strong two years ago and it lasted me a year and all of a sudden things started happening that weren’t happening, but all the time you are putting a bandage over it when it needs something bigger.

"At the moment I am down the pecking order and that’s a good place to be because lads are doing well in training and the squad is evolving more."

That may be the case, but it will not alter the reality that Pádraic Joyce is still likely to lean heavily on the veteran pillars of his team – the likes of Walsh, Damien Comer, and current player of the year Paul Conroy, who came from the bench to kick four two- pointers from outside the 40-metre arc in Saturday night’s win over the Lilywhites.

Even before a ball has been kicked in football’s new world, there is a growing consensus that few are better positioned to exploit the rule changes than Galway, given their strong man-on-man defenders, depth of primary ball winners and range of two-point shooters.

Above all, along with Walsh, Comer, and current All-Star Rob Finnerty, they have a defined strike-forward line which should thrive under the "three-up" rule, and Walsh concedes that the changes have sauced his hunger for the new season.

"It’s exciting," he admits. "I think everyone coming into pre-season was excited by the changes. It is something new and no one has a handle on it.

"It isn’t as if some team has worked this before us. We are all new to it and every team now has to try and grasp it.

"You’ll see different teams coming with different ideas and that is exciting, although I think spectators might not get it for a while as they will be learning the rules of the game.

"It is nice to see the two-point arc from a forward’s perspective anyway and Paul (Conroy) was exceptional – it was like he was never away.

"As a forward and a shooter you are probably going to back yourself in those areas, but it is all about whatever works best.

"Sometimes the one-point option could be easier than coming out for the two, so it adds another factor to it . ‘Teams tended to sit back a lot in the last couple of years and it doesn’t leave space inside.

"Now I think there is a lot more space inside because everyone is watching for the two points because there isn’t much difference at the moment between the twos and the threes, and twos will probably come by a bit handier.

"But if teams push out it could open the chance for goals as well."

Throw-in times for club semis

The CCCC confirmed the throw-in times for Saturday’s rescheduled AIB All-Ireland club SFC semi-finals, with the meeting of Dr Crokes and Errigal Ciaran fixed for 3pm in Portlaoise, followed by the Cuala v Strandhill/Coolera tie at 5pm in Breffni Park.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.