INTERVIEW: ‘I think Maynooth know exactly what they're doing’ says Vinnie Walsh

The echoes of Mayo’s All-Ireland-winning exorcism are still being felt nationwide and proud Mayo man Vinnie Walsh is preparing his Sarsfields side for their first Joe Mallon Motors SFC final since 2021. In pursuit of their title since 2019 they face Maynooth on Sunday, November 1 at 3pm in Newbridge.

“I did an interview for the Western people down in Mayo there last week. And I have to say, it did probably give me a lift to be able to win this year,” Walsh said. “Just that lift because we love our football down there and just the way they won it finally, just believe in yourself and what you're doing and just go and it did give me a lift to have a crack at it.”

“As I say to the boys now, the worst thing we can do is lose. So let's have a crack at it. That's the mantra Mayo took this year, wasn't it? And it's paid off.”

That previous gap in Sarsfields success is a rarity for Kildare’s most successful championship club and the Claremorris native says restoration of it has been the message from day one.

He said, “I came here three years ago to the club and that's all they've been saying to me since the day I arrived, they want to be back in a county final and win the county final. That's what I was brought in to do and that's what the boys have wanted to do and we're back in one. So everyone's delighted.”

Steadying the ship

Prior to the hiring of the former Athy manager, Sarsfields had something of managerial merry-go-round and Walsh outlined that his plans stretch far longer than a 12-month stint.

“I'm not one of these boys that jump all over the place. If I go into a club, I like to go in, have a chat with them and talk about how we can develop the club, the senior team and the reserve team and build a panel and I always kind of say if after three years, if you're not where I want you, we'll sit down and then we'll talk about a stay or go. But it's not like, give me your first 15, I magically do it and if I don't, I leave,” Walsh explained.

“Even though it was Sarsfields, eight managers in eight years, there were a lot of boys probably not getting chances. A few boys had fallen through the cracks and a few maybe were a bit disillusioned.”

He added, “The first year was actually really about just sorting out maybe a few older boys stepping away and a few younger lads finding out where they were and kind of going jeez, it's actually just a bit of conditioning, you might have a Sarsfields jersey on you, but if you're not conditioned, it doesn't matter.”

Squad depth

An enormous asset to The Sash’s latest campaign for glory has been their bench which has allowed them to kick on in the home stretch of games. The man on the touchline outlined why their newfound squad depth is no coincidence.

“My way of doing it, when I went into Athy, they didn't finish out the reserve league that year because they couldn't field a team. I remember saying, if you give me the gig, there'll be a senior team and a championship reserve team, and you'll have a third team as a social team. I remember they started laughing at me,” Walsh recalled.

“And Athy went on, won the championships, won leagues, had one or two reserve championships, and they have a third team. And I went in the exact same way into Sarsfields.”

That depth was evident in their second half dominance over Celbridge where Darragh Ryan, Cian Costigan and Ryan Kearney were all introduced to help kick their side clear and into the 2026 decider.

Walsh continued, “If you're in the top group, 40, 50, trained under me, you're trained as one proper senior team. And we won the reserve league last year, reserve league this year, reserve championship this year, and now we're in the senior championship and it's all about one. You need a big, huge panel, all being trained the same.

“If lads are down in reserve, and then they get this call-up, sure you're miles off it. So you need to be over there. It's a commitment I make to train both together. Now it takes a team of lads around me too but it’s my motto anyway, that's the way I try to do it. It's working, it has worked in Athy and hopefully it’ll pay off and work here as well.”

Maynooth

The 2026 county final pairing have already faced off in this year’s championship with Sarsfields managing a 3-17 to 1-17 win over Maynooth in the final round of the group stages.

Walsh was quick to set that six-point win in context for anyone expecting a similar encounter come Sunday. He said, “We know each other anyways but the game…we were both qualified so both teams just played football that day. It was 3-17 to 1-17. It was just a lovely game of football. I don't think it's going to be a lovely game of football the next day.

“They've got a really good manager and they'll shut down three or four of our players that they didn't shut down probably in the last game. They'll shut down certain lads, we'll shut down certain lads, which will take the scoring down a certain notch.”

“And then there's the whole occasion. So are you going to get that 3-17 to 1-17?” Walsh said. “It's hard to know or is it going to be more like what they've had in the last two matches, which is, they go out against opposition, they do their homework, they shut down certain players and they grind out results. I'd be expecting more that they'll come to do a job on us and they'll do it whatever way they need to do it. More than what it was in the group game, which was like, we'll just have a crack at each other.”

The Sarsfields boss was also full of praise for his future opposition and questioned the notion that both the reigning champions, Athy, and pre-championship favourites, Naas, could have just so happened to have an off day against the same opposition.

Walsh posited, “Was it Naas and Athy wasteful or is there something really good going on with that Maynooth defence? If it was a one-off you could say Athy kicked it away or they were wasteful. But you can’t take Athy out and Naas out and they both have the exact same problem without there being another story behind it.

“There has to be something else behind it so whatever Ross (Glavin) is doing with that defence and the way they're doing it, they know what they're doing because you don't keep Athy (0-11) and Naas (0-16) down to those scorelines by just them having an off day. That's too easy of an explanation. I think Maynooth know exactly what they're doing back there.”

2026

There has been a coming wave of belief about Sarsfields from inside and outside the club as they have gone about their championship business this year.

Their manager concluded, “The Athy (defeat) hurt us, like really hurt us, because you can make excuses, we were missing five or six players and the lads were young, but it was there for the winning so we had a real talk, are we going to always make excuses?

“That's the way football's gone, panels are young so I think the boys really had a look at themselves and made a few promises this year and I think they've learnt more from themselves this year than me.

“The players have talked about all this stuff which allows me to do what I like to do, which is tactics and game plans. They've dealt with all the other stuff and I think by that we've become a stronger dressing room and with that came the belief and we're just on a bit of a mission here. We have to finish this out and that's it.”