O'Sullivan looking forward to Interpro showdown

Kerry footballer Tom O'Sullivan is looking forward to Saturday's Interprovincial final against Ulster with great interest as the All-Ireland winner strives to be on the first team from the south to win the competition since 1999.

It is the Munster footballers' longest streak without Interprovincial silverware since their last sucess eight years ago - their previous win was back in 1982 - and O'Sullivan is keen to ensure that his province will be celebrating their 15th title on Saturday night.

"It means a lot to the players to play in an Interprovincial final. It was only yesterday that I was talking to Paul Galvin. I was asking him was he coming up. He was saying that he was mad to win a Railway Cup medal. But he is carrying a few injuries at the moment," said O'Sullivan.

"He's coming up with the panel anyway but whether he will start I don't know. Kieran Donaghy is the same. He's injured as well. But they are coming up to win."

This positive mentality is reflected throughout the squad but O'Sullivan admits that more needs to be done by the GAA to promote the competition and ensure that it is slotted in well in the GAA calendar.

"Time is the big thing really. There are a lot of county championship games and players would prefer to put themselves in with the club. It's hard to fit the whole lot in really. It's hard for the GAA to find dates for everything.

"There is a week between the last game (the last semi-final) and this game and a week isn't enough to promote it really. Maybe the media could promote it a bit better."

O Sullivan is hoping for a big crowd at Croke Park on Saturday but he reckons that the GAA will be lucky to get an attendance in excess of 30,000.

"I'd say if they got 30,000 they would be lucky enough. I'd say it will be a lot of family and friends and maybe with the Bank Holiday weekend it might draw a bigger crowd. I think if Munster and Ulster put out good teams, it could be a good crowd.

He added: "It's 10 euro to get in and that's not going to break anyone. It's 20 euro to get into a nightclub. I presume there will be more entertainment at Croke Park on Saturday!"

Ulster boast 27 titles, just one behind Leinster, and O'Sullivan expects a very tough game against the northern side this weekend.

"There is great rivalry there alright. I think both teams are bringing up big players so it should be a good game. It would be nice to put one over on Ulster.

"I think there are five or so Kerry players playing for Munster and there will be six or seven Cork players and one or two from Waterford, so I'm sure they will all want to put one over on Ulster as much as Ulster will want to put one over Munster."

The Rathmore attacker was involved in the last two championships with Munster but success was not forthcoming on either occasion. He is hoping that it will be a case of third time lucky this Saturday.

"At the end of the day, it's a Railway Cup final and I think Darragh O'Se is the only fella playing from Kerry to have one. Munster have only won it once in the last ten years so I'm sure the players would like to have at least one before they retire."

O'Sullivan expects to mark Paddy Bradley this Saturday and recalls previous clashes between himself and the Derry All-Star.

"I marked Paddy before back in 2004. I think myself and Paddy marked each other in a secondary schools game before. So we had a couple of hellos and goodbyes. Paddy is good and I'm not looking forward to marking him because he is very fast.

"And not just that because he is very strong as well and very accurate. His All-Star this year was well deserved. It's about time he got one," O'Sullivan added.