Vinnie Walsh hails 'really special' day when Sarsfields achieved Kildare SFC glory
A delighted Sarsfields manager Vinnie Walsh spoke to Daragh Nolan at full-time of their SFC final win over Maynooth
Sarsfields boss Vinnie Walsh was in fine spirits after leading a second Kildare club to Senior Championship glory this decade after his side emerged as 1-14 to 1-10 victors over Maynooth.
He said, “This one, the emotion of it (is huge) because of the crowd on the pitch. The other one (with Athy) was in Covid. It was very special between us and the lads this year and there is something special about the crowd out, and all the families on the pitch and supporters. It's really, really special.”
The topic of the half-time interval was again on the agenda, Walsh added: “I knew they were fit and we were fit. And we were probably blowing away teams with our fitness and speed, but they were sticking with us.
“So there's a lot of mistakes in the middle of the pitch because both teams were super fit and were going at each other. So I just talked to my lads at half-time.”
He continued, “We need to keep going at them, but add a bit of control when we can. And I think that those few moments of control, which led to a score or two, in the first half were leading to us shooting wide, panicking. So it was just a matter of, we had more ball than them.
“So just get the balance between going at them and controlling it, which we didn't do in the first half.”
Maynooth’s defence has received massive praise (and rightly so) in this championship but there was plenty to manage going the other way too with Cathal McCabe, Sean Hever and Paddy Mahoney, the latter of which was kept scoreless by Colm Hartnett.
Walsh explained, “He has done a job on everyone the last few weeks. Collie Harnett is a top, top footballer. He knows when to attack the ball and he knows how to stay in the tackle.
“It's great when you get Daragh Ryan, Shea Ryan and Con Kavanagh. I thought Con Cavanagh got a perfect in-between, helping the full-back line and then getting out to the six again to get double-ups. That work went back and over the top of that arc. You could see Maynooth a few times, they actually ran out of ideas because the boys just stayed in the tackle long enough. So it was excellent.”
In the lead-up to the SFC decider, Walsh outlined his management philosophy of getting a panel of 50 players, forming competitive senior and reserve championships sides and going from there. Sarsfields have lifted both the Reserve ‘A’ and now Kildare SFC titles in 2026.
Walsh finished, “I just believe that a club is bigger than one team. So you go in and you open the door to anyone that wants to train. And what I kind of say is, I've trained 50 lads. And if you're good enough in that 50, we'll coach you, develop you, get you all playing the same way. And it takes a year or two to build that. But what you get out of it then is a reserve team winning, a senior team winning. But they all feel part of it. I don't believe in going in and saying, give me your 15 best players. A club is about developing everyone.”