Walsh embracing London's steady progress

Henry Walsh was part of a golden generation for Roscommon underage football during the last decade. But, having joined the London senior panel in 2022, this weekend represents the ultimate disappointment as he’ll miss Saturday’s game against his native county through injury.

Despite all those memorable victories in “Primrose and Blue” colours, it’s two games that Roscommon should have won that Walsh remembers most — the All-Ireland minor football semi-final defeat against Tyrone in 2013 and the Connacht U-21 football final reversal against Sligo three years later.

“I played in Croke Park (in 2013) when Fergal O’Donnell was manager. Ronan Daly, Ultan Harney and Diarmuid Murtagh were on the team. So was Seán Mullooly who also ended up in London.

“I was on the U-21 panel in 2015 when we won the Connacht final. We should have won it again in 2016 but Mayo beat us down in Sligo. It was one of those game we left behind us,” he recalled.

In Walsh’s own words, he was “in and out” of the senior set-ups under Kevin McStay and Anthony Cunningham. He played against Cavan during the height of Covid — a match that saw Roscommon crowned Division Two League champions without having to play a final in late October 2020.

But in 2021, London came calling, and like many young Irish people going abroad, initial plans were soon turned on their head.

“My sister was over here and I had a few cousins around the city. I had ideas of going to a few different places. The plan was to make London the first stop and see what it had to offer in terms of work. It worked out very well for me, that’s why I’m still here,” revealed Walsh, who currently works for an investment bank in Canary Wharf.

Naturally, Gaelic football became the next piece of the jigsaw to fit into his new world.

“Anthony McDermott — a clubmate from Kilbride — played for London and Tir Chonaill Gaels for a good few years. He put me in touch with Paul Coggins who was manager of Tir Chonaill Gaels at the time. After speaking to him, I had no choice but to join.

“I didn’t move here to play football but that’s the way it turned out,” he laughed.

The Rossie Posse around the English capital remains strong. Walsh ended up living with his former Roscommon team-mate Seán Mullooly for a year and ended up marking him in a league match against the former Strokestown player’s club, Wandsworth Gaels.

Alongside Coggins, Ronan Murphy, Cian Ruane — cousin of Roscommon senior footballer Dylan — are also keeping the Michael Glaveys flag flying in the English capital.

Given that it’s Roscommon first visit to Ruislip in a decade, Walsh had early April 2025 marked in his diary, but a serious knee injury against Wicklow in the second round dashed those hopes. Despite his disappointment, the talented forward is enthused by the strides London are making under Michael Maher.

London have put a lot of work in to bring things to another level. 

"Michael Maher, his team and the county board have put things in place to the point that there wouldn’t be much difference going back to my time playing with Roscommon in terms of set-up and what players have available to them.

“Between the end of last year and this year, we’ve been training in London Irish. We have access to all the facilities, including a full-size GAA pitch we can train on all year around. Initially, when I came over, we trained on rugby pitches until the days got longer. You can imagine being on a rugby pitch on Thursday night and running around a GAA pitch on Sunday morning. It wasn’t ideal.

“The points tally on the table (from this year’s league) doesn’t often tell the story. We’ve been very unlucky in a few games. All bar the first game, we should have been in a winning position.

“It has been a decent league campaign. I think we could have ended up with eight or ten points. With a lot of the work going on in the background, it’s no longer a question of being competitive. We definitely are competitive, and the progress will continue with all those things going on in the background,” he felt.

Next weekend, an entourage from Kilbride, including his father Enda, who is Kilbride chairperson, mother Winifred and his two younger sisters will make the journey to London in what will be the first global gathering of Rossies for a GAA match since the pandemic.

On the field, Walsh expects London to put it up to their hosts. Where that takes them remains to be seen.

“Down the years, the underdog naturally went into defensive mode to stay in the game for as long as they can, and see what might happen coming down the last ten or 15 minutes. The new rules are in place to stop that. There’s more football being played, but the jury is still out there in terms of whether we need all the rules.

“Obviously Roscommon are a serious outfit. They deserve every bit of respect they get. But this game won’t define London’s season, and it won’t define Roscommon’s season either. For me personally, I just want to enjoy the occasion of Roscommon coming over. Whatever happens on the pitch, let it be,” he concluded.