Breakout man O'Sullivan was 'always going to get into the Kerry team,' it was just a case of when 

BREAKOUT YEAR: Graham O'Sullivan of Kerry in action against Cillian McDaid of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Billy Morgan shot Graham O’Sullivan a good luck text last Sunday morning. The Kerry corner-back replied almost immediately, thanking his old Sigerson boss for the well wishes.

Morgan, who had O’Sullivan for three years at UCC, never had any doubt that he would acquit himself just fine on the afternoon of his All-Ireland final debut, and neither was he the least bit surprised when the 24-year-old grew into one of Kerry’s most influential players as the second half developed.

UCC played St Mary’s in the 2019 Sigerson decider. The Belfast students were notoriously defensive and so UCC had more than one defender without a forward to stand beside that February night in O’Moore Park. Morgan made certain that O’Sullivan was a free man in the UCC rearguard, handing a roaming license to the Dromid Pearses clubman.

“Because he is such a good footballer, he can play anywhere on the pitch. He always had the football, and he has the know-how to go along with it. He was the ideal person to be the free man in that final because we knew he’d use the ball well,” Morgan recalled this week.

And use the ball well he did, O’Sullivan finishing as UCC’s joint top-scorer from play with 0-2 beside his name.

2019 was also the year he was called into the Kerry panel by then manager Peter Keane.

He was no instant hit, mind you, first-team football for so long proving beyond his reach.

In his first three seasons with Kerry, O’Sullivan didn’t start a single one of their 13 championship games. In fact, he didn’t feature at all in eight of them, his involvement in the other five amounting to bits and pieces when introduced as a second-half sub.

Add up time spent inside the whitewash and O’Sullivan played the grand total of 51 minutes of championship football during those first three years, three seasons on the periphery that would have routinely challenged his appetite.

Dromid Pearses chairman Micheal Ó Sé remembers getting a call from O’Sullivan when Covid closed down the country. The latter wanted to know could he take some gym equipment from the clubhouse for use at home.

“He put in a lot of work on his own during lockdown. You could see the determination was there,” said Ó Sé.

Having carried a knock into 2022, O’Sullivan again struggled for game-time earlier this year. He didn’t step inside the whitewash during Rounds 1, 2, and 3 of the League, his first bit of competitive action coming when he was introduced as a 53rd minute sub for Gavin Crowley in the Round 4 win away to Monaghan.

O’Sullivan started ahead of Crowley for the remainder of the round-robin series, but with first-choice half-back Gavin White back fit for the League final, management decided to keep O’Sullivan in the first 15 by taking a punt on him at corner-back, at the expense of Dylan Casey and in the space left by injured newcomer Dan O’Donoghue.

Speaking about his fellow Dromid Pearses man after Sunday’s final win, Jack O’Connor said O’Sullivan, at the start of the year, “wasn’t kicking the ball for love nor money”.

On the evening of his first championship start, against Cork in the Munster semi-final, no Kerry player strung together more kickpasses - seven - than O’Sullivan.

On Sunday, the first three times he put boot to ball ended with three converted marks. He provided a further assist for a Diarmuid O’Connor point on 39 minutes, albeit this time with the hand, before the right boot was again employed to pick out Paudie Clifford for Kerry’s 10th.

O’Sullivan himself registered their 14th white flag, while another half-blocked point attempt ended in a free swung over by Seán O’Shea.

“His display didn’t surprise me whatsoever,” said Morgan. “You could see he had the class from day one. The question for Graham was getting into the Kerry team, and I had no doubt he would get into it, sooner or later.” 

Down in South Kerry, they are waiting to welcome a favorite son home.

“We are hoping Sam Maguire might be with us on Friday,” said Ó Sé.

“Going back to Declan O’Sullivan’s time when he brought it down, it was massive. For a small rural club of about 100-150 members to have a manager and a player, and the player having put in a man of the match performance, it is great. The young lads here really look up to Graham.

“When the opportunity presented itself during the League to get into the team, he grabbed it with both hands. You could see he was growing in confidence with every game, and it was great it all came together for him on the biggest day.

“He will definitely get a hero’s welcome when he comes back to Dromid.”