Ballyduff captain Jack O’Sullivan steeped in Kerry GAA tradition

The Kerry Flag flies beside the Mick O'Dwyer statue. Photo: Don MacMonagle

When Gerald McKenna passed on in April 2022, there was widespread sorrow in Kerry GAA circles.

The Ballyduff native was one of the most progressive officials in the association’s history and held a variety of roles at county, provincial, and national level in an illustrious top-table career.

One of his accomplishments, during his term as county chairperson, was the appointment of Mick O’Dwyer as the manager of the senior footballers. That set one of the greatest dynasties in GAA history on course.

Now his grandson, Jack O’Sullivan, is captain of the Ballyduff senior hurling side who face Abbeydorney in a repeat of last year’s SHC final and Jack speaks fondly of his late grandfather.

“I grew up in GAA,” he says. “GAA was always a main topic of conversation at the dinner table growing up.”

But his grandfather, who was president of Kerry GAA when he died, was not a man to issue advice to Jack on his hurling and football exploits, because Gerald believed academia trumped everything.

“Ger was always much more life outside of GAA first, so education (was a priority),” he says. “(A) vice principal in Causeway for several years. Always been a man for come home from school, get your bit of work done, do your homework and all that, football and hurling come after that then.

“While there was always a lot of knowledge coming from him and I suppose you always are aware of that growing up, there was never any pressure when it came to playing or I suppose getting involved with teams.

“But naturally, when you grow up in that household, you do want to play your own part in it and luckily enough I had an interest in it, and I suppose always encouraged by him.”

But Jack is one of the few current Ballyduff players who has a county medal despite this being their third final in four years.

“I started with the seniors in 2017. So I’m one of the few that were around last time we won a Championship, first year of it.

“And look, you see a lot of faces come and go over the years. It’s a funny one. I think it’s my age there now. So while you’re playing, when you look back, it feels like a long time, but it isn’t really.”

But injury will prevent O’Sullivan from leading the team out in the county final.

“It’s obviously disappointing to have an injury,” he says, “and nobody likes missing games, but, at the same time, it’s a team game.

“Paul Costello is more than able deputy.”

He also notes steady improvement in his side’s performances in four games so far in the championship.

“I feel the last couple of performances, especially late on both games were very, very strong,” he says. “I think you’re definitely seeing (maturity) amongst our young cohort.

“It takes time for a team to get to the level number one or number two maturity to actually win a championship. And we’ve contested two finals. Probably, under performed in both finals and that was more down to players than it was management in both cases.

“You’d hope that we can carry this on and maybe make that last step the next day.”