O’Sullivan leads the destruction

THE impact sub tag has been attached to Darran O’Sullivan since his breakthrough onto the Kerry scene in 2005 but the Glenbeigh-Glencar man has made no secret of his dislike of being restricted to bench-warming duties.

Yesterday in Croke Park, however, he was in the game from the first whistle and if the Kerry side entered their All-Ireland SFC quarter-final with plenty to prove, then O’Sullivan’s personal pre-match predicament mirrored that of the side.

Yet everything worked out perfectly for the captain, as he supplied three points to their destruction of Dublin in an accomplished individual display.

“I got a start today and I was delighted with how it went,” he said afterwards.

“Jack has said there’s great competition on the panel and that’s true. Paul O’Connor came in there, he’s a good buddy of mine, and he chipped in with a couple of scores.

“That puts pressure on the guys who are starting. I’ve been in the position of sitting in the bench before and it’s not a nice place to be. You’re only dying to get out there.

“I thought I contributed a good bit and got on a good bit of ball.”

Kerry’s summer prior to yesterday had progressed under a cloud of uncertainty but O’Sullivan insisted that the squad’s self-belief never wavered.

“We’ve been together a long time. There’s not too many of us going around reading newspapers and reading these stories. I’m working in the Ulster Bank and I’m hearing new stories every day. But that’s football. There are thirty odd lads in our panel. All we want to do is play football. I think we showed in the first-half that we’re here to do that.”

The seeds for Kerry’s 17-point walloping of Dublin were sown in a first-half where everything they touched turned to gold. O’Sullivan revealed the message at half-time in the Kerry dressing-room was to maintain their concentration levels after the break. “We’ve been in that position before when we’ve built up a lead. It’s all about concentration and starting from scratch. We know how good Dublin are.

“If they get a run at you, get a bit of confidence and the crowd get behind them, they’re a hard team to stop. It’s just about keeping on top and keeping things simple.”

O’Sullivan believed that being pitted against Dublin was the type of marquee clash that increased the pre-match focus in the Kerry camp.

“This was a game that we were really focused on. There’s something very special about Kerry and Dublin. It is the game that clues us in extra. There was no messing all week, everyone was very excited. Playing Dublin in front of 80,000 fans is a great atmosphere. These are the kind of games you want to play in. If you weren’t tuned in for a game like this, you might as well hang up your boots.”

Thumping the Leinster champions of the last five years and a team who entered this match with a glowing reputation after their provincial final success against Kildare, vaults Kerry back towards the top of the All-Ireland title betting markets.

But O’Sullivan still believes there is scope for improvement despite the manner of yesterday’s win.

“No team is the finished article and one good performance doesn’t make the summer. Dublin didn’t play to their potential today, so you have to look at it in that light. I honestly thought they were going to push us close this year but things didn’t happen for them. We’ve good respect for Dublin but they just didn’t perform. We’ll concentrate on our own game but there’s always room for improvement. It’s all about winning All-Irelands for us, we’ll go back training now and take it one game at a time.”