Paraic puts sport in perspective

After three Leinster final appearances and three Leinster final defeats, it would be tempting for Paraic Sullivan to suggest Rhode’s latest provincial decider is life and death stuff.

It is, of course, nothing of the sort. And doesn’t Rhode’s captain just know it. A tour of duty to Chad with the Irish Army in 2009 put many things into perspective for him.

Deployed close to a refugee camp in the stricken region, he was part of a regiment ordered to keep the peace in an atmosphere of high tension and sweltering heat.

Life there had developed into a survival of the fittest situation. Rapes and robberies were regular and the weakest suffered. Or died.

“We came in and just closed down the area and kept an eye on things,” recalled Sullivan. “It was very different. When I was going over there I couldn’t have imagined the things I was going to see or encounter. It is something you will always carry with you.”

So where does Gaelic football fit into the grand scheme of things now for Sullivan?

“You come out of it with a lot of perspective on what life is really about.”You see people in the depths of poverty. I suppose we are all talking now about trophies.

“And because it’s coming up to Christmas, it’s cars and iPhones or whatever they are talking about whereas out there (in Chad) it’s about where their next meal will come from.

“That thought is a leveller in itself. It’s easy to slip out of that frame of mind when you have different distractions going on but certainly it was an eye-opener.”

Roscommon’s Ian Kilbride was stationed in Chad at the same time and a few Donegal lads. They brought a number of O’Neills balls, threw down some jumpers for goalposts and attempted to train as best they could.

“It was a nice way to break it up,” said Sullivan. “You would wake up a on a Sunday morning at 8 o’clock in 50 degree heat and you’d be kicking a ball around and trying to do a few things. Not exactly the norm.”

A life less ordinary for sure. Inevitably, there were a few hairy moments when peacekeeping looked like it may spill over into engagement.

Before Sullivan departed in 2009, a media report here revealed Irish troops had over 200 encounters with armed bandits in Chad and often came under fire.

“There were a couple of incidents where you’d be walking back from a patrol and you’d be kind of saying, ‘that could have kicked off’,” he said.

“We are very well trained and we go out to these places with the best gear and the best of equipment.

“They are obviously a poor army with little or no training so they see us as the big guys with the big weapons. So they wouldn’t tend to mix it with you when they know what could potentially kick off.”

Sullivan’s army training has come in handy as a footballer. His ability to keep calm under pressure was part of the reason he was thrown the captain’s armband.

He doesn’t want to make it sound like football is unimportant either, far from it. His uncle is Johnny Mooney, an Offaly corner-forward from the ‘82 team so he knows how important and inspiring legacies can be.

History bears heavily on his mind heading into his fourth provincial final since 2006 and he will draw on all the hurt of those defeats tomorrow to help Rhode lay down a legacy of their own.

“Moorefield in 2006 was our first final and I suppose we were a little bit naive in that game,” said the centre-forward. “But 2008 definitely is the one that got away. We were six points up at half-time and Cian O’Sullivan got a red card before half-time.

“We played the majority of the game with a man extra but we just didn’t get over the line. That hurt a lot, to be that far ahead and have a numerical advantage but still not get over the line.”

Kilmacud Crokes beat Rhode in that decider and again in 2010. Another Dublin team stands in Rhode’s way this time, St Vincent’s, and the capital side are being strongly tipped to heap more misery on the Offaly men.

Sullivan agreed that the champions possess both style and substance in equal measure, arguing that he may have even put Diarmuid Connolly ahead of James O’Donoghue for Footballer of the Year.

But he insisted Rhode’s own forward duo of Niall McNamee and Anton Sullivan have the ability to open up and punish any defence.

“Once they have the quality ball kicked into them I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else in that scenario,” said Sullivan. “I genuinely wouldn’t. I think they are top class.”

With their own blend of silk and steel then, Sullivan gives Rhode a great chance of signing off on the year with a memorable win, the biggest in the club’s history.

“We have trained exceptionally hard this year and after we won our domestic campaign, we were one million per cent focused on winning this title,” he said. “The lads have done what they were asked and more. I know they are willing to go to a place where they have not been before to win the game.”