Patrick Hillery's father, later the sixth President of Ireland, delivered Noel upstairs in the family-owned pub.[6] Walsh played golf as a young man, had membership of Spanish Point and Lahinch Golf Clubs and qualified for the South of Ireland championship several times, while during the 1960s, he won a President's Prize at Lahinch Golf Club.[1] Though he moved to Limerick, he still held his allegiance to Clare.[1]
Walsh spent twenty years as a selector for the Clare football team at senior level.[9] One of these years was 1992, when Clare won the Munster Senior Football Championship.[9] It was the first time since 1935 (and still the last time when Walsh died) that the duopoly of Cork–Kerry had been broken.[6][5] Walsh had been responsible for bringing the winning manager John Maughan to Clare.[5] He was a Clare selector at all football grades.[1]
Walsh was also a selector for the Munster football team.[1]
Manager
Walsh also managed the Clare football team at senior level for three terms.[9]
Administrator
Walsh was secretary and chairman of his club Milltown Malbay.[9] He was also chairman of Clare Bórd na bPáirc.[9] Walsh spent eight years as Clare's County Board delegate to the Munster Council.[9]
He served as vice-chairman of the Munster Council from 1992 and became chairman of the Munster Council in 1995, after Tom Boland.[9] Walsh was chairman of the Munster Council until March 1998.[9] He presented the Munster Cup to Anthony Daly when Clare won the Munster Senior Hurling Championship for the first time in 63 years in 1995.[1]
Walsh advocated an open draw for the Munster Senior Football Championship (Cork and Kerry tended to be seeded).[5] He persevered with this, even when set back by opposition to the idea.[1] He was eventually successful.[1][5] This was in 1990, two years before Clare broke the duopoly, Limerick having had the first attempt in a narrow loss to Kerry in the 1991 Munster Senior Football Championship Final.[4][10]
Walsh was chairman of several committees, including the Coaching and Games Development Committee, the Provincial Football Development Committee and the Amateur Status Committee.[9] He was a member of various workgroups, including the Disciplinary Rules Workgroup, the Féile Peil na nÓg Workgroup and the Railway Cup Workgroup.[9] He spent three years as a member of the Management Committee and Central Council.[9] His chairing of the Football Development Committee led to the introduction of the All-Ireland Qualifiers.[4]
Other work included the introduction of floodlights to GAA stadiums and advocacy on the part of the Railway Cup.[7] When chairman of the Munster Council, Walsh had a pilot project for floodlights at Tralee's Austin Stack Park which "became a template for every county and club ground in the country".[10]
Joe McDonagh, when GAA president, appointed Walsh as chairman of the National Football Development Committee.[9] Walsh himself twice ran for the presidency and was elected a GAA trustee in 2000.[4][5]Seán McCague beat him into third place in the presidential election of 1999.[7] Walsh then lost to Seán Kelly in the presidential election of 2002.[4]
Walsh wanted Croke Park opened up to other sports.[2] Walsh credited the original motion to Tom Kenoy of Roscommon but took up the task himself when the motion lost by two-thirds of one vote — 176 to 89.[10]Rule 42 was eventually amended at the 2005 GAA Congress to permit the opening of Croke Park.[2] Walsh via his club brought a motion to the 2015 GAA Congress asking for all county grounds to be opened to other sports.[2] This time he did not succeed.[2] However, Walsh's motion later helped justify holding a tribute association football match to Liam Miller at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.[7]
^Fogarty, John (1 May 2020). "Poc Fada may help ease longing for GAA, says Donnelly". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 1 May 2020. Meanwhile, [Martin] Donnelly has effusively praised his friend and fellow West Clare man Noel Walsh, who passed away from Covid-19 related issues earlier this week.
