Club success keeps O’Sullivan focused

DECLAN O' Sullivan is enjoying his football more than ever before.

To the outsider, that may seem hard to believe, given the Kerry forward’s glittering inter-county career but returning to his club Dromid Pearses has been a perfect antidote to the pain of September’s All-Ireland SFC final defeat.

Since then he has played a key role in Dromid’s county and provincial club junior football successes, which have set-up an All-Ireland quarter-final against British champions Cú Chulainns in Birmingham tomorrow.

O’Sullivan admitted: “After the All-Ireland you don’t want to see a ball but coming back into the club dressing room has been brilliant. The lads have reenergised me and it’s very easy to motivate myself, looking at the effort those fellas have been putting in. I have never enjoyed my football as much. I didn’t play with them for a good part of the year so now I want to make up for lost time.”

Not even missing out on the Kingdom’s five-day team trip to New York this week has dampened O’Sullivan’s spirit.

“I would love to be on that trip,” he laughed, “and the problem is that I will probably have to listen to the boys talking about it all next year! But I wouldn’t swap this for the world. I can go to New York anytime.

“This is a great adventure we are on. The memories that we are making at the moment will last forever.

“I am sure the lads are having a good time over in New York but we will have a good weekend ourselves.”

Central to ensuring this will be a weekend to remember will require an increase in intensity from the Munster champions, according to O’Sullivan.

“We know that we have to improve because our Munster final performance (against Kildangan) would not be good enough tomorrow. We will definitely have to find another 15% to 20% and we have to play for 60 minutes, not fall asleep for 10 minutes here and there We see ourselves as underdogs heading over there. We are going into the lion’s den. As a club we have always been the underdog but when the chips are down, we feel we can fight for each other.”

“They are a lot of traps that you can fall into. In terms of logistics, it’s a huge jump for the club from organising a bus to a match to planning a weekend away like this. There is big excitement of course going away on a big trip like this but the players just can’t get caught up in that sideshow. We have to keep our feet on the ground, conserve our energy, and not get giddy being away on a big trip like that. We have to be professional.”

Sharing Dromid’s adventure with his brothers Donal and Dominic has added to its appeal, with the success of Michael Anthony O’Connell’s team uniting the entire community.

“It’s not just about sharing this with my brothers, it’s about sharing this adventure with the whole parish. That has been the beauty of our games all year, the support we have received has been phenomenal.”

As for Kerry next year, is there another kick in this Kingdom team? “That’s dangerous talk, saying if there is one more kick. They are saying that since 2008, ‘09 was supposed to be our last hurrah but we are still here and we don’t intend to go away anytime soon.

“As long as they are young fellas coming through of the calibre that I have seen and have trained with over the last year, Kerry football is in a healthy state.”