O’Sullivan switches to rugby for the winter
Kingdom manager Jack O’Connor can rest assured that it’s only a short term measure for the winter months as the GAA season shuts down.
O’Sullivan was involved in GAA action with Kerry champions Mid Kerry until the end of November last year.
But their recent quarter-final defeat to Feale Rangers has left him with time on his hands. As a youngster in London he played with QPR and in more recent years has been approached by numerous rugby teams.
“Our physical trainer with Kerry, Alan O’Sullivan, his brother, John, has a coffee shop in Killarney and John used to play professional rugby with Munster,” explained O’Sullivan.
“I go in there every day for a cup of tea on my break and John asked if I would give the rugby a crack over winter? I said I would and signed away. Whether I’ll have the time for it I don’t know but I wouldn’t mind giving it a crack and do something different for the winter.”
Another source of interest over the coming days and weeks for O’Sullivan will be the various GAA awards which are doled out.
Between the Vodafone backed GAA All Stars scheme and the Opel sponsored GPA Team of the Year there’s been plenty to talk about. But O’Sullivan is aghast that forward colleague Colm Cooper wasn’t among the GPA’s 45 strong short list.
“You’d have to wonder who is picking these things sometimes,” said O’Sullivan.
“People were saying he didn’t score from play in the All-Ireland final but he was fouled for an awful lot of frees.
“He’s definitely the best footballer in the country by a mile in my book. How he wasn’t in that (the nominations list) I don’t know but that’s the least of his worries, he has the medal in the pocket.”
O’Sullivan and ‘Gooch’ will definitely be back for action in 2010 but there are question marks over others.
Veterans Darragh O Sé and Mike McCarthy may opt to retire on a high while rising stars Tommy Walsh and David Moran are being tracked by AFL outfit St Kilda.
“As far as I know they’re going out for a trial for a couple of weeks,” said O’Sullivan of Walsh and Moran.
“Sure who could blame them for going to Australia free of charge?
“They’ll be professionals for a couple of weeks and I can’t imagine anyone saying no to that. They’ll go down there and obviously it’s up to them after that.”
As for veteran duo O Sé and McCarthy, O’Sullivan is hopeful they’ll stick around for another season.
“I think Darragh proved it again this year that he’s still the best around and Mike Mac came back after a good break so he can’t be retiring on us again!” smiled O’Sullivan. “You’d be hoping both will stay around.”
Ulster Bank employee O’Sullivan was joined in Dublin yesterday by Tyrone manager Mickey Harte who has released his new book, ‘Harte – Presence is the only thing’.
Harte denied media reports that he questions in the book Sean Cavanagh’s reasons for not starting against Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Harte wrote that he was ‘puzzled’ by Cavanagh’s claims on the morning of the game that he was ‘wrecked’ and wasn’t ‘feeling good’.
Harte suggested the 2008 Player of the Year Cavanagh may have been under an additional ‘year’s worth of pressure and expectation’ and that ‘in the end the roof simply caved in’.
But speaking yesterday, Harte clarified: “For anybody to suggest that I am casting aspersions on what Sean is about would be grossly unfair. Every opportunity I get in this book I speak well of many, many players, including Sean. I would always be very conscious of the fact that he’s been central to all the success Tyrone has had since 2003.”
Ulster Bank employee and All-Ireland winning Kilkenny skipper Michael Fennelly also attended the event.
He said that if Ballyhale Shamrocks win the county final on Sunday week and he was offered the county captaincy again he’d be interested.
“If you get nominated (to be) captain it is very hard to say no to it,” said Fennelly.
“But you don’t know what’s going to happen next year.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
