Declan O' Sullivan - Kerry’s standard-setter hands over the baton

That one of Kerry’s greats, Declan O’Sullivan, won’t be around to set the standard in the dressing room for the All-Ireland champions in 2015 is a sobering prospect for Eamonn Fitzmaurice, writes Tony Leen.

The Amendoeira Golf resort in the Algarve might have its valet service, monikered carpets and chilled face-towels for its upmarket clients, but a quiet, rugged corner of the lavish 550-acre spread is the sweaty cornerstone upon which Kerry build their Championship aspirations in the springtime.

Often the sun beats down on their crack-of-dawn pitch sessions, with its specially-imported GAA goalposts providing navigation for bleary eyes. Occasionally too, the heavens open and management improvises with Cian O’Neill or Ger Keane taking a session of circuits in a fit-for-purpose marquee erected alongside the two all-weather football pitches.