O’Sullivan says Rebels will battle for missing trio
The Rebels go into Sunday’s Munster SHC clash with the Banner without mainstays Paudie O’Sullivan, Patrick Cronin and Lorcán McLoughlin.
“Everyone is going to have to do it for them and try to get them a game back in the Championship,” he said. “Lorcán isn’t going to be out for too long and Pa will be back soon hopefully, Paudie is probably a write-off for the year, but those are the lads that have been carrying us for years. Lorcán was our best player in the League by a mile and it’s so harsh on them. You’d love to see them back.
“You’d be deflated to an extent, but there are three other fellas now who can step up to the plate and it’s great for them to get a Championship game. There’s good and bad in it.”
O’Sullivan smiles ruefully about Sunday’s opponents: “We’re sick of the sight of Clare now at this stage! Sure I was half an hour late for the first game. I came on straight on at half-time. They blew us out of the water down here in the League and then there was the relegation final. We probably had that game there to win, but in the last 10 minutes they just steamrolled us, to be fair, and then in extra-time as well.”
O’Sullivan was one of the men late for the Waterford Crystal game in Sixmilebridge. Hence the half-an-hour late reference.
“It was funny — you had to see the funny side of it. It was a disaster, got out of the car stiff at half-time and was straight on. I got a bit of a runabout that night.”
It’s O’Sullivan’s fourth year on the panel, but the squad’s still quite young: “That’s good as well because it drives fellas on and we can build for the next few years.
“There are plenty of fellas there to take responsibility. I just try to do my job and I’ll do that to the best of my ability — it’s the same thing I’d be doing if I was 19 or 32. I wouldn’t feel any extra pressure with that.”
There’ll be pressure on Sunday. Take Clare’s speed around the field.
“They’re wicked fast,” says O’Sullivan. “Tony Kelly just walked past me one day. All I saw was his heels. Darach Honan is big so fellas don’t think it, but when he gets going you’re not going to catch him.
“He’s a sound fella (Honan), laid back as they come. He’s quality, he was brilliant against Waterford and he’s an absolute nightmare to have against you. He has everything really.
“They’re so fit. You have to get it done early and do the damage. Everyone is talking about the training they have done and it’s supposed to be savage. That’s standing to them now because they are blowing teams away.
“They absolutely hockeyed us in the second half (of the league game) and we had no answer for it. You can’t complain about it because they were fitter than us.
“We trained like savages for four weeks after that so hopefully we’ll be some bit as fit as them now. There’s no two ways about it — they were fitter than us then.”
Whatever happens, O’Sullivan will have familiar faces around him.
“Me, Cian (McCarthy) and Dan (Kearney) were all on the same Sars minor team. If you think about it, three fellas on the one county team off the one age-group is unreal.
“(Michael) Cussen is there, Ray (Ryan) played, Tadhg Óg (Murphy) played. Playing with the club is great, you’re so happy with it, but we were lucky with it because it was a launching-pad for us.”
