O'Sullivan: Hurt a motivating factor for Dessie's Dubs

DIFFERENT DRIVING FACTORS: Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan with his niece Sophie Wendell and the Sam Maguire Cup in 2018. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Former Dublin star Cian O’Sullivan believes hurt is likely a motivating factor for the county as they face teams in the All-Ireland SFC.

For the majority of his inter-county career, there weren’t too many defeats to avenge but the Kilmacud Crokes man accepts this current group have that motivating factor.

Beating Mayo last Sunday week came following their All-Ireland semi-final defeat to them two years ago. 

As Dessie Farrell highlighted after that game, Saturday’s opponents Monaghan sent Dublin down to Division 1 last year. In the event they win that game and Kerry defeat Derry, there is the possibility of sweet consolation for last year’s semi-final loss on July 30.

“I can see how people are spinning that narrative,” said O’Sullivan. “What intrigues me is what is motivating all these teams that are left in the championship. When we were playing what was driving us was something different to other teams who were trying to win their first All-Ireland.

“Maybe that’s the hurt of last year or being questioned, individuals being questioned, that hurt piece, never really had to contend with that when we were successful and performing really well, which was a real challenge for that team to keep the motivation and the drive up.

“Whereas now you are off the back of two years, demoted to Division 2, haven’t won an All-Ireland in two years, there are plenty of questions asked of the team. So is that motivating force and the driving force among the squad, and not just these couple of players (Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion) that have come back in this year? When you are looking at the other teams left in the championship, you are asking yourself what is driving them as well, and it starts posing an interesting question.” 

As for what’s stirring Kerry on the other side of the draw, O’Sullivan spoke of the difficulty in putting together back-to-back All-Ireland titles. 

“I certainly think last year there would have been massive motivation for Kerry, however many minors they won in-a-row (five), the talent that was in the squad.

“They just didn’t seem to be getting the performance to the level of where their own county was expecting of them and a new manager comes in and they win the All-Ireland for the first time in seven (sic, eight) years. That’s a long time down in Kerry. So yeah, I think that hurt, those questions would have definitely been a driving force for that Kerry squad last year.

“Now, I’m looking at this year, that box was ticked, massive release of pressure. How do you reframe your motivating factor here? What is driving that group on? What is really propelling them to win it again? I just know from the experience in 2012, again, in ‘14, we had two bites at the cherry to try and deal with back-to-backs before we got it then in 2016 and I think that was a replay. We played an epic game against Kerry in the semi-final in 2016 and then a replay against Mayo in the final, so it takes a monumental effort.

“For us it took that experience of failing it twice before we figured out, that you kind of have to go into a different space here, you have to develop something different then. People questioning you or people writing you off or Joe Public expecting something of you, you have to just put that all to the side and just really look… it’ll fiercely impressive if Kerry get to that space after one year.” 

It appears O’Sullivan’s opinion of Dublin’s All-Ireland prospects improved greatly after the emphatic second half against Mayo in achieving their 12-point victory. 

“Funny year, all about an open championship and we’re looking ahead to a couple of weeks to possibly the most unopen of finals (Dublin v Kerry).

“Mayo looked very good, I don’t know when was the last time in championship Dublin beat them by that margin. To beat them by that, that’s a real signal about the capacity in this Dublin team.”