Rathmore’s O’Sullivan aiming to end year on a high

FIVE weeks may have passed since Kerry’s dramatic All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin but time has not proven to be a great healer for five-time All-Ireland winning defender Tom O’Sullivan.

A veteran of 10 All-Ireland finals, the manner of Kerry’s late, and heart-breaking capitulation against the Dubs still rankles with the Rathmore man.

“It’s a game that we certainly should have won, being up four points down the final stretch,” O’Sullivan said.

“That’s when our experience should have helped us home. But we just didn’t close out that game. It’s as simple as that. We were in the position where we wanted to be and nine times out of 10 we would win a game from there. But the team obviously took their eye off the ball and we paid the price.

“But you have to give Dublin credit because they kept battling away and never gave up. While other teams would maybe let the heads go down in that position, Dublin kept plugging away. And they got their reward. Fair play to them.”

O’Sullivan backs Kerry to return next year — but he was a tad non-committal on his own intercounty future.

“I haven’t really given it much thought. That’s a decision for a different day,” O’Sullivan explained.

“The weekend after the All-Ireland I played a county league game with Rathmore and it’s been non-stop with the club at the moment. I am just concentrating on Rathmore now; my future with Kerry is a topic for another time.

“It will all come down to hunger. You need that hunger to play at the very top level. If you don’t have it, then you are wasting your time. The ability might be there but the hunger mightn’t be there. The two go hand-in-hand, you can’t have one without the other. We’ll see what the winter brings.”

And it still has the makings of being a memorable winter for O’Sullivan, if his club Rathmore win the Kerry Club SFC final against Laune Rangers at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney tomorrow afternoon (3.30pm).

It’s a golden opportunity to ease some of the pain from last month’s All-Ireland final defeat, according to O’Sullivan: “It would soften that blow alright. Obviously losing an All-Ireland final is something that you want to flush from the system as quickly as you can.

“But if we beat Laune Rangers, there is also the chance that we could go on and represent Kerry in Munster, if Mid Kerry beat Dr Crokes in the county final.”

And victory in Killarney would be a massive fillip to Rathmore, as their Kerry ace explained: “It’s important for the players and the clubs to win something every year, and we aren’t happy that we haven’t won something for a while.

“We seem to have a problem with finals. We have no problem getting to finals but once there we just can’t win them. It would be a massive boost to the club, to win something again. It’s been too long. A win would keep the club going, and make it a good winter.”