Miriam Walsh believes Kilkenny can go 'the whole way' on return from injury

Even as she put herself through the torturously lonely grind of ACL injury recovery, Miriam Walsh's mindset oscillated between determination and doubt.

Walsh credits her endeavours away from the limelight with the improvements in her game that earned her a third All-Star and Player of the Year in 2022.

Even as she wondered what she was doing it for, Walsh embraced the Muhammad Ali line about the fight being won or lost far away from witnesses.

There were many micro contributors to the eventual decision to return. Her husband, Noel McGree, kept telling her she would miss the dressing room.

Team-mates, Kellyann and Aoife Doyle had been through the cruciate mill and promised her that while it wouldn’t be easy, the year would fly and it did, because the days were so busy.

Her first cousin, Grace has been even more of a constant with the Stripeywomen as Miriam and was on the squad when her younger relative got the call-up from Ann Downey.

The power that has terrorised defenders for more than a decade had fooled the camogie legend, however. The neophyte was only 15 and would have to wait another year to be allowed play.

Grace was coming back from injury herself. She provided upbeat messages regularly, particularly after the hamstrings twanged to threaten a derailment of the comeback.

"I was going, 'I can’t do this anymore,’ and Grace was saying, ‘You can,’" reflects Walsh. "She’s a brilliant leader."

She still wasn’t sure though until running into Kellyann Doyle in the gym. Denise Gaule had gone travelling, Claire Phelan retired. There was new management.

"I didn’t know whether I was gonna go back. One day, off the cuff, I met Kellyann Doyle in the gym. She was like, ‘Are you coming back Miriam?’ And I was like, ‘To be honest, I’m not