O’Sullivan pain at being left behind

FOOTBALL Player of the Year nominee Darran O’Sullivan believes the GAA should have helped those caught in a club versus country tug-of-war due to the International Rules series.

O’Sullivan’s club commitments with Mid Kerry in the Kerry SFC final on Sunday week ruled him out of the Irish panel. But he feels county boards and provincial councils need to help players.

“That has to be looked at, that club championships can be put on hold for a few weeks because we are playing an amateur game and we don’t get that many opportunities to throw on the Irish jersey,” a disappointed O’Sullivan said.

“Playing for Ireland is definitely something that you would look back on after you have retired because representing your country is as good as it gets for a sports person.

“It’s not easy for a player to choose between a county final and the International Rules but I know that county finals don’t come around too often either, and I will be giving everything for Mid Kerry for the next few weeks.

“It’s so disappointing and I know there will be people saying, ‘oh, you’re chance will come again’ but you don’t know what the future holds, in terms of form and injuries, or whether the series itself will be around in a few years. I feel like it’s an opportunity missed.”

His plight has been all too common in recent days with captain Stephen Cluxton’s availability still unknown due his participation in the Dublin SFC with Parnells.

GAA director general Paraic Duffy yesterday accepted the matter was exceptionally hard on players and called on them to put the club first in terms of priorities.

“I like the International Rules series but I think the priorities of the club should come first and maybe we need to look at it again,” he said at a campaign launched yesterday to educate players about the signs and symptoms of concussion.

“Okay, we are where we are with this series but I think going forward, I don’t think we can have a situation where players are forced to choose or where county championships are being put back. I think the club has to come first here and maybe establish a new set of ground rules.

“It will be two years before we play again and we have to address some of these issues to avoid this.”

Rejecting calls for an amnesty of fixtures during the Test series, he instead proposed that players still involved in the club championship two weeks before the squad leaves Ireland not be considered.

“I think the club has to come first and I think going forward that’s the position we need to take, that instead of this last six to 10 days of who’s going and who’s not going, it will be better if you said, any player whose club is still involved by two weeks prior to leaving wouldn’t be available for selection.

“That’s the only way to resolve this. There’s a cut-off point and if you’re still involved in the championship at that stage you say, ‘Sorry, you can’t be considered for selection’ and you pick the players from those who are available, which is still a huge number of players.”

However, for this series, the side has been considerably weakened by the growing list of withdrawals.

While Duffy accepts the team will not be as strong as it should be, he added that the series is not as important as some people have made it out to be.

“You want the best possible team to go there but this is not a matter of life and death,” he said.

“This series is to give players an opportunity to represent their country, that it’s a good relationship with the AFL and the players enjoy it and the supporters.

“But it’s not the All-Ireland championship, it’s not the World Cup, you’ve got to keep it in perspective and if the price to be paid is that you cause absolute havoc across club fixtures, I’d be concerned about that.

“I think it is possible to do this, you set up a set of guidelines and say, ‘Look, players who are still involved in the championship a week or 10 days before the team leaves, you draw a line there and just pick from those who are available’.

“I’d be concerned that you’d have club championships being played now very late in the year and that was never the intention, that the International Rules would interfere with club competition and I think we’ve got to be careful to avoid that.

“After this year’s series we have two years to the next one so there’s no excuse for not having it sorted before the next one comes around.”

* CORK attacker Patrick Kelly was yesterday drafted into the Irish International Rules squad for the trip to Australia following the withdrawal of Kerry’s O’Sullivan.

Kelly becomes the third member of Conor Counihan’s squad to join the Irish panel, following the earlier selections of Eoin Cadogan and Aidan Walsh, and will fly to Australia tomorrow.