Walsh: 'Life-changing' events shaped Kilkenny success

Kilkenny camogie star Miriam Walsh says tragedy and adversity glued the group together on their journey to becoming All-Ireland champions in the summer.

Walsh is in the running for the senior PwC GPA Camogie Player of the Year after being shortlisted alongside Waterford's Lorraine Bray and Katrina Mackey of Cork this week.

She shone at full-forward as Kilkenny captured the O'Duffy Cup for the 15th time overall, however the road to glory was paved with some devastating setbacks.

"Two of our main players, Kellyannn and Aoife Doyle, two sisters, done their cruciates," Walsh told RTÉ 2fm's Game On.

"Then [coach] Tommy Sheflin lost his brother Paul. Brian [Dowling, the manager] lost his uncle. Some of the girls lost their grandparents. It kind of put sport into perspective and it drove us on for the whole year. We became a tightknit group from there on.

"Brian is a fantastic man, a brilliant influence on us all. He's an unbelievable leader and he inspires us in so many ways.

"They were really life-changing [incidents]. When Tommy buried his brother Paul on the Tuesday morning, he was at our training Tuesday night. We were kind of his family; we were there for him. We really were there for one another."

The Kilkenny squad had to self-finance their team holiday following that All-Ireland championship success, launching a successful fundraising campaign that was well supported.

"At times it can be a bit stressful but we're lucky in a way being from Kilkenny, because the people of Kilkenny have been incredible for support," Walsh said when asked about the slog of raising funds for the team.

"They always have been, going to out matches, the crowd we had at our homecoming... for the fundraising itself, we all worked hard. We've raised