O’Sullivan in no mood to let record slip under Reeks

Welcome back, Declan O’Sullivan. By our reckoning, it’s over two years since his words appeared in a national newspaper.

In that time, there’s been the Dromid Pearses-Derrytresk episode, being spun for Kevin McManamon’s goal and Brian McGuigan’s comments about him feigning injury in the qualifier win over Tyrone last July.

In general, it’s been a couple of middling seasons both individually and collectively for Kerry, the highlight for him being this same stage 24 months ago.

Opportune time to catch up, then, but he’s for living in the present and nothing crystallises his mind more than Cork.

This interview so easily mightn’t have happened had he not been given the all-clear after damaging his jaw in a training game last month.

“It was very harmless,” he smiles. “I was full of beans the same night, I was chasing back and the ball went over my head. I turned around and Paddy Curtin, the big horse of a man that he is, got the ball, put out his hand to shield and I went straight into his forearm and bang my legs went straight up.

“It was fine, at the time I thought the jaw was broken, but thankfully it didn’t turn out to be anything more than a bruised lip and a bruised ego probably as well!

“I was thankful for that because it could have been the end of my year. I certainly dodged a bullet.

“A couple of days later I realised I didn’t get a free for it so I think it shows the way that Eamonn [Fitzmaurice] is reffing the games inside in training as well!”

Lauded as one of the most naturally skilful footballers in Kerry, O’Sullivan has also been distinguished outside the county as one of the crankier of the crew when things aren’t going right.

He nods to that perception of him talking about his repositioning in the full-forward line. “You have to be a bit more patient and patience wasn’t always my greatest attribute. I spent a lot of years out around the middle and it’s got very congested out there. I picked up a lot of belts and bangs and stuff like that. I’ve actually enjoyed the bit of freedom and it’s probably a bit more exciting being in the inside [line].”

But you won’t find O’Sullivan following the example of namesake Darran and Colm Cooper bemoaning the direction Gaelic football is taking.

“The most important attributes a player can have is his attitude and work-rate. That’s the way it always was. I’ve often seen players come in [to the inter-county panel], they’re great players with their clubs and have great talent but it doesn’t work out for them because their attitude and work-rate isn’t right. I think if we’re giving out about players who have great attitudes, work-rates and are prepared to play a team game rather than individually it would be wrong.

“To be honest, I couldn’t see much wrong with the game at the moment. I know it’s a bit defensive but all those things come in cycles and you’ll probably find a new fad come into it in a couple of years.”

Preparing for days like tomorrow, he admits he’s not a great watcher of games. Spending time with his 14-month-old son Ollie is more to his liking.

“From a forward’s point of view, we try to keep fresh and keep sharp, almost play off the cuff and on instinct. If you’re watching too many games and analysing it too much, it can blunt you a small bit and you can over-think it, which is the last thing you need. I try to relax, take it easy, chill out.”

The brickbats lobbed Kerry’s way in recent times? Most have been justified, he admits. Like a single in its third or fourth week in the music charts, they’ve dropped.

“You have to listen to everyone’s opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. There are question marks, and rightly so. We’ve lost some big games over the last couple of years. We probably haven’t performed like we would have, and certainly we have been passed out by a number of teams in the last few years.

“We have no qualms about there being question marks over us. It’s a great challenge for us to see if there is more left in the tank.

“We haven’t played for 70 minutes all year, and going back to last year, it was one area that we struggled in. We couldn’t seem to keep it going for 70 minutes, so that’s a big test for us.

“Certainly, Cork will bring out that bit of caution in you. They’ll be all guns blazing coming down to Killarney.”

He thinks the relationship with Cork has improved as both have encountered difficulties in recent times.

“Among the supporters, there was a time there when we were challenging for All-Irelands together that the rivalry, I wouldn’t say had become poisonous, but it did become fractured there for a while.

“But I think both teams have slipped down the pecking order a bit now and I think in both panels there has been a huge change in players.

“There are a lot of young players coming into the Cork set-up. Likewise with our set-up, the panel has changed no end over the last two, three years.”

He looks at the amount of All Stars Cork are keeping in reserve and admits “it’s a frightening bench, really”.

On the flipside, he discusses the sizeable volume of work Kerry have put into preparing for tomorrow.

Being the first Kerry championship team to lose to Cork under the Reeks since 1995 doesn’t enter his head.

“It’s certainly a proud record and we want to hold onto it. Any team serious about their business really wants to make their home patch a place where other teams will have to earn it to beat us. Donegal have done something similar up in Ballybofey.”

Fitzgerald Stadium, he finds, usually rewards the superior team.

“Generally you find in Croke Park that the best team wins because it’s a fine, open pitch, and the team with the best tactics on the day and players on form will normally win out. That’s Killarney as well. There isn’t too much science to it, really. It’s just a real good surface, a great atmosphere, and whatever team is going best normally wins in Killarney. The underdog doesn’t really succeed in Killarney either!”

With Kerry deemed favourites, he’ll be hoping that line doesn’t come back to bite him.