Irish Junior International captain James Walsh will pull on the green jersey for the 50th time in tonight’s friendly international against Northern Ireland in Drogheda surrounded by a new generation of teammates but with the same determination to succeed.

 

Eight years on from making his debut for Ireland on front of a home crowd in 2001 - against the Isle of Man on that occasion - the amateur and junior international captain from St Michaels in Tipperary town celebrates a monumental achievement in his career on front of Irish supporters once again.

Joining the likes of Barry Flynn and Keith Bruen on half a century of caps, Walsh, who is based in Dublin with a career in IT, will lead a new-look junior international squad chosen by boss Gerry Smith at United Park and plans to enjoy every minute of it.

“To be still involved with the international set-up eight years after getting my first cap and making it to 50 is a great honour for me and great for my club St Michaels and the Tipperary League,” said Walsh.

“I was involved when Barry (Flynn) and Keith (Bruen) were getting their 50th caps and seeing how special those occasions were, it is fitting that it should be a friendly in Dublin, like my first, and I can have family and friends there to celebrate it.

“I still get the same buzz when I pull on the green jersey as I did the first time, of course I do, because I think it’s like the old saying goes, that you are only ever one injury away from having it taken away from you.

“At the end of the day, it is my 50th cap but it is an international match too and we are on a good run and really want to keep that going.”

Following a successful recent qualification campaign in Italy, Walsh’s Irish amateur side have the UEFA Regions Cup finals in Croatia in June to look forward to and the 33-year-old defender admits Ireland have come a long way in his time involved.

“The international set-up has changed dramatically since I first started and I think it is down to us learning from our experiences,” added the St Michaels man.

“We have gone away to tournaments and whether we have done well or not, we have been able to bring back the lessons and take them onwards with us and improve because of them.

“We are at a level now where before we go to a tournament for example we are amateur players but we prepare like professionals now and we know exactly how to prepare and apply ourselves because of the excellent preparation that is put in.

“Gerry (Smith, coach) has been around for a long time like myself and has been able to take little pointers all the way down and brought them in and applied them to the squad so that we are now competing with the big teams like Italy for example.”

With 14 potential new caps in tonight’s junior international squad to face Northern Ireland, manager Gerry Smith has selected an array of talent from across the nation’s junior league’s and Walsh for one, thinks that can only be positive.

“When I first came into the squad there was three or four internationals a year but now there is seven or eight a year, which is really important,” said the Irish captain.

“Players can shine in their leagues for Oscar Traynor sides but international football is totally different and now Gerry can bring in players and give them a chance to impact on his thinking.

“There is a big difference in the standard all the new lads will be used to playing at but hopefully some of them can go out against Northern Ireland and give the boss a headache with selections for the future.

“Another advantage of having a game like tonight’s, where new players are brought in, is that they come up to our set-up and see how it is done and how professionally it is done and they bring some of the standards back to their leagues and teammates.

“Hunger is a huge thing and I think the new players enjoy coming up to the squad and if we have a bit of hunger mixed with a bit of ability than it bodes well for us.” 
 

From FAI website: www.fai.ie