O’Sullivan: No plámásing, Eamonn fits the Kerry bill

Darran O’Sullivan insists there is no chance of Eamonn Fitzmaurice being too close to the Kerry players.

The manager has played with several of the panel including O’Sullivan and was the preferred choice of the group to succeed Jack O’Connor, but that’s where the relationship ends, assures O’Sullivan.

“Fellas aren’t going to be plámásing Eamonn because he knows the plámásers and all this craic. It’s good that he knows us, he knows our characters, he knows football. The fact he’s still playing is very important.

“It has been an easy transition and I think that was very important because it has been said already, we are in transition. If you compare the panel of 2009 to what it is now there is a massive overhaul.”

This Sunday, Fitzmaurice will have Mayo’s coach of last year, Cian O’Neill, beside him on the line in Castlebar while James Horan is flanked by ex-Kerry coach Donie Buckley.

O’Sullivan, who is studying marketing in Dublin IT and will play Sigerson Cup football for them this year, has fond memories of working with Buckley.

“I get on very well with Donie and I think Mayo are lucky to have him, he’s a great guy and a great football man.

“So far things have been going well with Cian. I haven’t been down much but all the dealings I have had with him have gone well, he has good, fresh ideas. As far as I can see, they are two of the best in the business.”

O’Sullivan has overcome the nagging hamstring injuries that truncated his championship forays last year after realising the problems stemmed from his lower back hip area.

A critic of how Gaelic football is currently being played, O’Sullivan hopes some of the Football Review Committee’s proposals, if passed at Congress, can speed up the game.

“The rule for a fella slowing down the game after a free, moving it up, things like that are going to be very important.

“I watched a lot of games last year at county and club level.

“I have gone to a couple of Dublin championship matches as well, it’s not just Kerry. And the game did seem to have changed, it got quite slow.”

The Glenbeigh/Glencar man also warned the young players who performed for Kerry in their McGrath Cup success needs to sustain their level of performance.

“It’s fine for these fellas to be going well in January, it is up to them to want to be going well in May, June, July. But I suppose it is good to see them going well now and getting used to playing.”