Dillon Walsh made a welcome appearance at Sligo under-20 training on Wednesday night, as he continues his recovery from meningitis.
Last month, on the day of his 18th birthday, Walsh was the Sligo hero in the Connacht under-20 final after scoring an injury-time winning point against Galway. However, just days later he fell ill and was taken to Sligo General Hospital.
“Dillon got meningitis maybe five or six days after the Galway game,” says Sligo under-20 manager Paul Henry.
“He was bought in at 3.30am and he was very critical at the time. It definitely shook the whole group, it kind of showed them at the end of the day this is football and how things can change so drastically, so quickly.
“The day of the Connacht final, he was lifted on people’s shoulders and carried around in our homecoming and on the pitch above in Tuam.
“And then when you realise that a young man who is so fit and so healthy, all of a sudden that health is taken away from you and you really don’t know what is going to happen.
“Behind it all, it is just football and while we are very lucky to have it to enjoy, life is life and I am very thankful that Dillon is on the mend.”
Walsh will not be available for Saturday’s EirGrid All-Ireland under-20 final against Kildare at Breffni Park, but he will be part of the group on the day and travel with the squad to the game.
“He is a warrior, this guy is as tough as nails and thankfully he came out the other side of it and he is getting stronger every day.
“It was a huge lift for the lads to see him at training. He put on his shorts, he was out running around the pitch, he did a few of the warm-ups with the lads and he is gradually starting to come back to himself. But it will take a bit of time and I am trying to explain that to him as well.”
Sligo must also plan without their team captain Canice Mulligan for Saturday’s final. Mulligan suffered a shoulder injury during last week’s All-Ireland semi-final win over Kerry and will miss the decider against Kildare.
Mulligan delivered a memorable speech after the Connacht final during which he referred to Sligo as now being a ‘big dog’ in a province traditionally dominated by Mayo and Galway.
Saturday will be Sligo’s first appearance in an All-Ireland under-20 football final, but irrespective of what happens the long-term challenge for the Yeats County is to sustain the momentum from this encouraging underage run.
“You’re kind of hoping that this will end up pushing other lads on,” says Henry. “But you have to take the reality of it that at the moment Mayo, Roscommon and Galway are the big three.
“Canice got his thing in about being a big dog in the Connacht final and on that given day and at the minute this team is a big dog, so it’s a case that we are hoping younger lads will want to emulate the current under-20s and the two teams having won Connacht titles.
“But it is very hard to determine whether or not it can be sustained over a period of time. Even if it’s a case we ended up winning Connacht titles every six or seven years, it’s still a huge improvement on what has happened in the past.”
A significant Sligo following is expected to travel to Cavan on Saturday, but Henry feels it would have been more fitting of the occasion for the final to be played at Croke Park.
“They are things that are outside of our control but to honest what I probably would have liked was if we got to Croke Park with the lads, let these lads have a chance to play in Croke Park,” says Henry.
“When they are growing up as kids they want to play in Croke Park and it is something that could be looked at again in the future because it really would make for a great occasion.”
– The EirGrid All-Ireland under-20 football final between Sligo and Kildare takes place in Breffni Park on Saturday at 1.30. The game will be shown live on TG4.
