walsh was the eldest of the five sons and three daughters born to michael walsh and brigid gallagher of ballina (aka balliea), in the parish of mullingar, county westmeath. educated locally, he spent a year at mullingar's christian brothers school, and subsequently in 1900 to st. finnian's college, navan, where he studied for three years. noted as a good student, walsh achieved special distinction in classics and mathematics. in autumn 1903 he became a student at st. patrick's college, maynooth, again achieving great distinction in subjects such as irish, french, italian and philosophy.