O’Sullivan makes case for interpros
Conor Counihan’s former selector, who stepped down last week after nine years with the Cork senior footballers, was responding to news that his county board had voted to support the discontinuing of the competition.
Central Council will discuss the future of the series this weekend and O’Sullivan, who has led Munster on three occasions as well, says the players’ support for it has to be acknowledged.
“It might be scheduled better in the year but it definitely has a future.
“What I found out about it is the players, providing they’re available, love playing in it, especially those from so-called weaker counties.
“The O’Gorman twins, Gary Hurney, Gary Brennan, David Tubridy, Ian Ryan, Johnny McCarthy — they were outstanding and well able to match players from other counties.
“It would be most disappointing from their point of view and for the players who wanted to represent their province. Cork players have made a huge commitment to the interpros over the years.
“Anyone in the dressing room for the final this year in Armagh and heard [Munster captain] Tomás Ó Sé speak before he went onto the field would know how much it meant to him.”
O’Sullivan remembers a few years ago a Limerick player, who came to training in Mallow on Thursday, asking if he could take it easy because he had a club game the following Sunday. “I said ‘fine’ and afterwards he told me it was a county hurling final! That’s how much it meant to him.”
The Dromtarriffe man recalls ringing Waterford’s Shane Briggs to join the panel last January.
“I rang Gary Hurney and asked him if anyone from his team would be interested and he mentioned a guy to me. So I rang him and his response to me was ‘I’d love to play in it’. He said he had held off from retiring from inter-county football when the decision came through last October for the interpros to continue.”
O’Sullivan can appreciate why some people might question the validity of the interpros in light of poor attendances but believes they can be scheduled better.
“Every county, bar Tipperary, were represented in this year’s panel and the timing wasn’t ideal for them. They had lost their first two games of the league and, if I was John Evans at the time, I wouldn’t have been enamoured with players missing.
“From an overall GAA view. I can understand that the attendance at the games was quite poor. We had a good crowd in Armagh for the final but for the semi-final in Parnell Park there were less than 1,000 people.
“If it was a thing that the GAA wanted to make money on it, the timing wasn’t ideal especially the current timing after first two rounds of the league. If we in Cork had lost the first two rounds we’d be panicking a little bit. I’d suggest rather than giving the national league a three-week break, they could play the semi-final before the start of the league and then the final after the first two rounds.”
Despite Cork’s opposition, O’Sullivan sees Ulster getting firmly behind the continuation of the series.
“I’m not sure it’s dead and buried. I can see other counties showing strong support for it.”
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan explained it was a “difficult decision” to step down as Cork selector last week.
“I felt it was a hugely rewarding experience and I made some lifelong friends out of it and I’ll still be involved in football at some level.
“I got some heartwarming messages from players and in the email back to them I said I look forward to the first Sunday in Killarney in July, all going well, seeing them in a Munster final.”
O’Sullivan remembers leaving his home at 9am on Saturdays and only returning the following night after taking in a couple of games in Ulster on the Saturday and two in Leinster on the way back on Sunday.
“Conor left us with our work and our employers from 8.30am to 5.30pm but anytime before that or after that, from 7am up to midnight, was liable to be taken up with selector duties.
“It’s almost gone professional with the management side of it too now. I just felt I needed a break and I’m happy with my decision.”
According to O’Sullivan, Cork require only some small changes to replicate their 2010 All-Ireland victory.
“I remember in late January 2010 we played Dublin in a challenge in Parnell Park and the evening before we met with Pádraig Harrington who had a huge interest in Cork GAA through his father. He told the players not to do anything different apart from a few small things, that they were 99% of the way there. It’s the same with Cork now, I believe. A bit of tweaking is required here and there. If you go back to the DVD of the Donegal game, we had chances in the first half that we didn’t take and we got punished heavily for turnovers.
“I remember Billy Morgan saying when Cork were down the pecking order that all he wanted was for them to be in the top four or five and competing for national honours. I think we’ve reached that level now and it’s important that they take the opportunities when they come.”
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