Rhys Walsh returned to Sunderland from a loan stint with South Shields this month

Sunderland U21s boss Graeme Murty has admitted that Rhys Walsh’s recent loan stint with South Shields proved to be something of an “eye-opener” for the young winger.

The Northern Irish prospect spent a little under two months on the books at Mariners Park, making seven appearances and registering one assist. He returned to the Academy of Light last week, and came off the bench during Tuesday evening’s National League Cup clash with Gateshead.

And while Murty has suggested that the temporary stint will provide Walsh with invaluable experience, he has also claimed that the step up to senior football was a “challenging” task for the 19-year-old.

What has Graeme Murty said about Sunderland U21s winger Rhys Walsh?

Speaking after the final whistle at the Gateshead International Stadium, when asked about Walsh’s loan, Murty said: “It's been an eye-opener for him, it's been quite challenging for him. But once again, we believe that we can find or source or plan for a really varied learning environment - be that go out on loan, be that this kind of competition [the National League Cup] or the PL2.

“We see lots of benefit in varying those experiences and I think Reece might be a little bit challenged by going out there and playing against men, and possibly not getting as much game time as he wanted, but he understands what the game looks like at that level now. So for him, as long as he consolidates that learning, it's been a beneficial experience.

“I don't actually believe there's anything like a loan to give you that competitive nature of getting into a team. Because in academy football, sometimes it's quite sterile. You have a fixed group and we tend to look at load, we have to make sure that everyone gets what they need physically. But when you go into the big, bad world of football, you have to go every single week and prove that you deserve to play. And sometimes I think that's a really, really good lesson for our young players.”

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What was said about Rhys Walsh during his time at South Shields?

Speaking after Walsh’s debut while out on loan, Shields boss Watson told The Echo: “I think today was really good for Rhys. He’s come in from Sunderland where he’s been playing on lovely pitches every week within the academy setup. Today was a tough day in terms of the pitch, the grass was really long so in terms of his attributes, his dribbling and manipulating the ball, it was really tough for him. But he really stuck at it, he worked hard, he had some really good moments on and off the ball and we are really excited to see where he can go during his time with us.”

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