What does the future hold for Cork football coach Kevin Walsh?

While Cork football manager John Cleary continues to mull over his future, there are question marks over Kevin Walsh remaining on as coach for the 2025 campaign if Cleary decides to stay on.

The Galway native joined the backroom team in November 2022, which was a real coup, and there has been no doubt about it, he has made a big impression over the past two campaigns on the players.

Walsh has brought a strong defensive structure and great organisation. But, Cork have also come in for criticism for their overly defensive tactics and ponderous play which was evident in the Rebels All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final defeat to Louth in Inniskeen last Sunday week. In what was a hard game to watch, Cork only conceded 1-9 but only managed 1-8.

Cork’s attacking tactics have also been under the microscope in this campaign with their style of play in general coming under the spotlight. 

The Rebels have the weapons in the forward department to hurt teams but most notably against Louth, they were starved of the ball with the slow play coming out of defence giving time for the Wee County to get back into their shell. Also in this campaign, Cork haven’t been able to get the best out of Seán Powter and Conor Corbett in particular and there has been questions whether the tactics are hindering the players.

Walsh’s standing in the game is unquestionable having won five Connacht titles and two All-Ireland medals during a stellar playing career with Galway. As a manager, he steadied the ship with Sligo and guided Galway to two provincial championships and promotion to the top-tier of the league.

It was an achievement for the Leesiders to have secured the services of Walsh in November 2022, a man who was on the shortlist for the Cork senior job on a couple of occasions. But, with the Rebels now much more defensively sound, there is a feeling that it’s now time to try and strike that balance, and be a bit more attacking. We saw it at times against Kerry and Donegal this year but not enough overall in the season.

Walsh’s expertise and charisma has been hugely beneficial and has been a big addition but Cork’s tactics have left more questions than answers following the team’s meek exit from the 2024 championship. The last five minutes of the Louth encounter ten days ago summed up Cork this year. It was all about possession as opposed to a kick pass or a look up to see if they could get the winning score when it was deadlocked. The full-forward line were screaming for the ball. 

Instead, the winner came from a Sam Mulroy free in added on time to knock Cork out.

There is an expectation that Cleary will stay put as Rebels boss and once that is sorted, he will have to decide who will coach the team next season. It might be a case of Walsh is still the right man but the Cork fans will want to see much more ambition tactically in 2025.