Darren O’Sullivan’s final Kerry cameo summed him up

The same evening that both Kerry’s involvement in the 2018 championship and Eamonn Fitmaurice’s tenure as manager ended, the last two players to leave the home dressing room in the bowels of Fitzgerald Stadium were Kieran Donaghy and Darran O’Sullivan, writes Kieran Shannon.

Donaghy, who had started the game but was subbed at half-time, had been the last to shower, having stayed out on the field, signing autographs, in the knowledge he’d never again do the same with a green and gold jersey on his back, while O’Sullivan was also soaking in every last moment inside the four walls that for 15 years had been his home from home.

About an hour-and-a-half earlier, O’Sullivan had nearly torn the paint off those same four walls, jolting his team-mates from their slump whatever about their slumber, with an impassioned half-time address that a Jackie Tyrrell or Johnny Sexton would have approved. They were Kerry, playing a championship match in their own house in front of their own people. What they had served up in the opening 35 minutes against Kildare was unworthy of the jersey and that home support. Although he never said it in so many words, his teammates clearly picked up the subtext: I’m not going out like this!