Walsh, Oliver (‘Ollie’) , (1937–96), hurler, was born 13 July 1937 at Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, one of four children of Michael Walsh and Johanna Walsh (née Kennedy) of Mill St., Thomastown. Educated at Thomastown national school and Kilkenny vocational school, Ollie Walsh first came to notice at the age of 10, when Thomastown won the Kilkenny under-14 county championship in hurling. He won two more under-14 Kilkenny hurling championships with Thomastown, followed by three under-16 county championships, also with Thomastown. In 1955 he began his inter-county career, winning a Leinster minor hurling championship with Kilkenny and showing exceptional promise as a hurling goalkeeper in his teens. Two years later he won the first of ten Leinster senior championship medals with Kilkenny, being on the winning Leinster senior team in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, and (as a substitute) 1972.
In 1957, 1963, 1967, and 1969 Walsh was on the Kilkenny team that won the All Ireland senior hurling title, and in 1972 (when Kilkenny again won) was a substitute. He was on five winning Kilkenny hurling teams in the Oireachtas competition (1957, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1969), the 1959 final being one of the few occasions when he played ‘outfield’ instead of in goal. He was also on the Kilkenny senior hurling team that won the National Hurling Leagues of 1962 and 1966. At inter-provincial level he was on four winning Leinster teams in the Railway Cup competition – 1962, 1964, 1965, and 1967, captaining the side of 1967. In 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990 he won four junior All Ireland medals with Kilkenny, training the team in all four years, and he also won a Kilkenny senior football championship medal with Graiguenamanagh. After his retirement as a player he trained two winning senior Kilkenny All Ireland teams (1992, 1993) and in 1995 he trained the Kilkenny team that won the National Hurling League. For five years he trained the Carlow senior hurling team, and in 1981 trained the only Kilkenny CBS team to win the All Ireland senior colleges title, on which his son Billie was goalkeeper. After his retirement as a player he also helped to coach Kilkenny minor and under-21 teams.
Acknowledged as the greatest hurling goalkeeper of modern times, Walsh had striking blonde hair and, being of stocky build, was able to withstand the frequent goal-rushes then (but no longer) permitted by the rules of hurling. In private life he had a reserved, almost shy, manner. He married (1960) Olive Murphy of Kilkenny; they had three sons and a daughter, two of his sons becoming successful soccer players. In early life Walsh was a representative of the local brewery; then for a while he manufactured hurleys, and for the last twenty years before retirement he was a sales manager of a cement manufacturing concern. He died suddenly of a heart attack on 9 March 1996.