O’Sullivan left to rue another missed chance

MICKEY Ned O’Sullivan has been down this road before, as Kerry manager against Cork in the Munster final in the 1990 decider in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, against Clare two years later in the Gaelic Grounds. And now Limerick.

The lesson you learn, he said after yesterday’s crushing defeat, was that ‘you have to be philosophical.’

But that doesn’t mean it’s any less difficult to accept defeat.

“It’s naturally very disappointing, especially when you put it in perspective – that 113 years history of defeat and you are just one point off it. That is the disappointing factor,” he sighed.

“I know that our lads gave it every last ounce in their preparation and I was very proud of they way they played.

“They played a very attractive brand of football and very sporting... They are devastated, but will bounce back.

“Anything that hurts, you can turn it to a positive and hopefully we will.

“It steels players and makes them strong. They have a good attitude and they showed they can play as good a (brand of) football as any county in the country. That’s good for Limerick football. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t win it.”

O’Sullivan made it clear he was annoyed at how his team had been ‘written off’ in the media.

“There was no logic to some of the comments about Limerick football. All they had to do was come and watch us and they would see they are well coached, well prepared and we have some great footballers. But people live in ivory towers and they don’t go to the trouble of attending a training session or watching these guys.

“There’s nothing wrong with football in Limerick – it’s the people that are commentating on it. They are the people that aren’t getting up off their backsides and going to see the games and see the players preparing. We played well against Tipperary and we played well against Clare and we were still written off.”

Saying, in response to a question, that the awarding of the penalty was ‘his only regret,’ he described it as a marginal call and expressed the view that his team hadn’t got any such calls over the course of the game.

“I admit you can’t see everything, but I didn’t see anything blatant (in the concession of the penalty). But, that’s the way football goes. We have to accept whatever decision the referee makes.” Interestingly, he felt that his team could very well have won the game if wing-back Stephen Laving had better luck with his goal attempt late in the first half. “They would have been chasing the game then,” he said. “I suppose when we had the momentum we didn’t get enough scores. Cork got the two goals that kept them in the game.”

Understandably, long-serving midfielder John Galvin found it much harder to take the defeat, saying that the fact of not having won the title since 1896 was largely immaterial to him, explaining: “To tell the truth, 113 years doesn’t bother me. All I know is that I am playing for 11 (years) and I haven’t won one.

“In 2004 we should have beaten Kerry. I’ll look back on 2009 and always think we should have taken Cork when we had the chances. We performed to a certain extent, but I still think we could have performed better. I’m not saying we are done. I hope we can re-group. It would be terrible to leave the season like that and not put in a big fight for the qualifiers.”