Kevin Walsh favours All-Ireland finals being settled on the day.

While many felt it was a shame that last Sunday’s epic All-Ireland SHC final didn’t go to a replay, Walsh remembers the build-up to Galway’s 2000 All-Ireland SFC final replay against Kerry as being ‘dead’.

“I can totally see why that [hurling final] should have been a replay – for people watching on, for players getting tired, for injuries, for everything,” the former Galway midfielder and manager told reporters at an Allianz event this week.

“From a player’s point of view, we played in a replay and leaving the result apart – we lost it – that last two weeks before the replay, the one memory I would have is that it was just dead. That excitement was kind of gone and it was very hard to get back up for it.

“I’m not saying that was the reason for the result. Personally, as a player, I’d like to finish on the day. That’s just me, but I can totally see why the whole country are roaring that it shouldn’t be.”

He added: “Nobody wants to lose on penalties and because it’s coming from the soccer background of how to decide a game, maybe we’re all roaring and shouting that that shouldn’t be on penalties.

“Things can go with you and against you. You’re still at 50-50 on penalties. You’ve gone that distance. I would nearly rather it go to penalties than something in the last two minutes to go against you, a refereeing decision or desperate bad luck or something that might be just wrong.”

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