Sheehan learning captaincy role from predecessor O’Sullivan

IF Bryan Sheehan is worried about the pressure of combining the job as Kerry senior football captain with trying to cement a place in the team, he need look no further than his predecessor, Darran O’Sullivan for assurance.

O’Sullivan had been confined to the role of impact sub in recent years but managed to play a key role from the start before fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition by lifting the Sam Maguire Cup last September.

The Glenbeigh-Glencar speedster says that the support of manager, Jack O’Connor, the rest of the backroom staff, his team-mates and his employers helped him concentrate on his primary responsibility of doing the business on the pitch.

“It wasn’t that Jack or any of the other lads put pressure on me, I put pressure on myself,” O’Sullivan explained.

“I wanted to get on the team, I wanted to lead Kerry in all the big games and I wanted to lift the cup at the end of the year. The pressure is after the game really. I was talking to (former captain) Declan (O’Sullivan) about it, how much stuff goes on after the games, outside of football, which can be quiet draining at times.”

These include liaising between players and management about any number of issues, while dealing with the ever-increasing demands of the media has become a massive part of the job nowadays.

“In fairness to the lads, they looked after me well this year. I wasn’t asked to do too much (in terms of functions or media events). Even Ulster Bank, who I work for, knew I was concentrating so much on getting on the team.

“If there was any press they needed me for and they knew I wasn’t too keen on, they didn’t put me under pressure, which I really appreciated.

“I was really just concentrating all year on getting on the team. I hadn’t been on the team, I’d been sub a lot and I was fighting to get my place on the team.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan is hopeful that Tommy Walsh will be the only loss from last year’s panel, with speculation mounting that Darragh O Sé might bring the curtain down on his inter-county career.

“Darragh will make up his mind after his break,” O’Sullivan says. “I’d be hoping he’ll stay on. He still has what it takes, he’s still the top midfielder in the country, hands down, in my eyes.

“We’d be hoping he would stay on but obviously Darragh has played a lot of football and owes nothing to no-one, so whatever he decides, we’ll respect that.”