‘We’ve got a great benefit out of Aidan’: Dunloy joint boss Liam Richmond glad to have Olympic boxer Walsh onboard

DUNLOY joint manager Liam Richmond has hailed the impact Aidan Walsh, after the Olympic boxer hooked up with the club’s hurlers earlier this year.

Since retiring from the ring, west Belfast man Walsh - who brought home bronze from the Tokyo 2020 Games - has focused his attention on sport and exercise psychology, and was appointed high performance athlete lead by Boxing Ireland earlier this year.

Despite a limited knowledge of the finer details of the caman code, Walsh got involved with Dunloy through a mutual connection in the club’s strength and conditioning coach, Andy Tsang.

And, speaking to The Irish News during the summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – where he was part of Team NI’s support staff – Walsh described feeling like “an adopted Dunloy man” after working with the Cuchullains.

“A lot of stuff they’re doing in the GAA, and the likes of Dunloy, other sports – at the elite level - could learn a lot from it.

“The two coaches, Shane Elliot and Liam Richmond, being in that environment and just being around them, I love that; I love that type of work because they’re always willing to learn.

“I know nothing about hurling, but it’s such a progressive environment. Every minute I’m up there, I absolutely love it.”

That relationship has worked both ways and Richmond – a stalwart for club and county during the 1990s and Noughties – feels Walsh’s involvement has helped the Cuchullain cause as they prepare for Sunday’s Antrim final clash with Cushendall.

“Aidan came down and met myself and Shane, and we’ve got a great benefit out of Aidan - a real brilliant guy.

“I suppose he’s learning the ropes about hurling… he’s more of a boxing guy. But Aidan has been fantastic for myself and Shane, never mind the players.”

Dunloy were the dominant force in Antrim hurling around the turn of the decade, reeling off four titles in-a-row between 2019 and 2022.

However, they have had to watch on as Sunday’s opponents Cushendall – twice - then St John’s last year have gone home with the Volunteer Cup.

Part of the Dunloy conundrum, particularly in the time since their last hurling crown, has been the dual ambitions of an incredible group of players. In 2023 they reached a first Antrim football final since 1991, before returning to the same stage two years later and claiming the Padraig MacNamee Cup.

Riding both horses in a considerable physical and mental load for so many of the same players to carry and, having progressed to the last four of the hurling championship with the minimum of fuss, Dunloy’s defence of the football title ended against eventual champions St Brigid’s.

Within days of that defeat, they had to pick themselves up off the floor and get ready for a hurling championship semi-final against Glenariffe – surprise winners over the Johnnies.

It proved a straightforward task as the Cuchullains breezed into Sunday’s decider with a 5-21 to 0-6 win. And Richmond believes getting back to the small ball was a welcome distraction after the disappointment of their football championship exit.

“It probably is,” he said, “but I don’t know what kind of switch they have on them that they are able to turn it around.

“We were in the opposite position last year when we got beaten in the semi-final of the hurling and they had the football final the following week.

“They were fit to switch it back on again straight away and get over the line in the football.

There’s massive character in there and they’re so self-driven. We haven’t won the hurling championship in four years now, so there’s hunger there.

“It’s a special group of players. We have 12 or 13 boys that start football and hurling. Those boys have been going eight or nine weeks on the trot there - football, hurling, football, hurling.

“For us, freshness and recovery is a big thing and then everybody is getting the best out of it. We have a great relationship with Anthony [McQuillan] and the football management so, for us, it’s keeping them fresh and, obviously, keeping the injuries down.

“That game [the football defeat to St Brigid’s] was on a Saturday night and we got the boys back on the Monday night… we didn’t do a lot with them, but the way they apply themselves is unreal really. They are a great bunch.

“There probably was a slight worry about where they were at mentality-wise, never mind physically, from the football. But once they came in, they were tuned in again and they are good to go.”

However, one man Dunloy will have to do without in Ballycastle is talented forward Eoin O’Neill, who picked up a shoulder injury against Glenariffe and is ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, whatever that may bring.

“It was an AC injury,” added Richmond, “it’s a massive blow for us, but for Eoin himself too.

“He’s had his fair share of injuries. To get to this stage of the year…there’s no real comeback from that. But it’s a chance for somebody else to step in and do the business.”