During his time as a Cork footballer, Noel O'Leary competed with some of the best players in the country, none more so than Kerry legend Donnchadh Walsh.
O'Leary joined Kieran Donaghy and Joe Molloy on OTB Sport's latest Supervalu Roadshow ahead of a mouth-watering clash between Cork and Kerry on Saturday afternoon.
Although much was made of the titanic battles between O'Leary and Paul Galvin, the 2010 All-Ireland winner considered the difficulties he had marking a Kerry forward who tended to go under the radar.
"Towards the end of my career," O'Leary recalled, "I ended up marking Donnchadh Walsh.
"Jesus, I found Donnchadh, I found him to be a different kettle of fish again from Galvin. It's no wonder my legs are fairly screwed today after marking them boys."
A forward with energy to burn, Walsh went vastly underrated by his contemporaries, according to O'Leary.
"Donnchadh to me, totally underrated," he argued. "The big thing with Donnchadh, it was fierce frustrating marking him.
"Donnchadh Walsh would make a run and he was always in a position to get the ball. Whether he got it that was a different question but he was always in a position to get the ball.
"You had to go with him no matter what. He was brilliant then to slip in around the back and get himself into a goal position you know. He was lethal dangerous I'll be honest.
"Probably with Galvin and Stephen O'Neill he was up there yeah. I'd rate him very highly."
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One of Walsh's long-time teammates, Kieran Donaghy agreed wholeheartedly with his former Cork opponent and put forward a theory of his own as to why Walsh was sometimes overlooked.
"Donnchadh was underrated because he was ultimately in a team with high profile guys around the place that were household names," he suggested, "whether it was Galvin or Declan Sullivan or Gooch or Mike Frank or whatever.
"He was the fittest guy that I have ever seen on a pitch though, or been around or trained with. He was underrated through on goal too because he was a great goal-scorer and he was a very solid passer."
Walsh's engine was the stuff of legend and his versatility on the pitch was also a key attribute that contributed to the success the Kingdom had at that time.
Keep an eye on OTB's social channels over the coming days for more great stuff from our Kerry vs Cork GAA Roadshow in association with SuperValu
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