O'Sullivan eager to blood young talent as Ballincollig gear up for new Super League season

Ballincollig head coach/player Ciaran O'Sullivan chats to his team. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho

There are more important things than retaining the Domino’s Super League title, according to Ballincollig player/coach Ciarán O’Sullivan.

Ballincollig secured a league and cup double last season but O’Sullivan believes that simply winning trophies this season won’t be enough.

“Last season couldn’t have gone any better. There wasn’t a lot of pressure going in but it turned out really well. We were delighted with the way it turned out,” said O’Sullivan.

“We have other goals this season. We still want to be successful but we want to be a sustainable Super League club. There’s a job on my hands to make sure I can blood a few young guys so that we still have a Super League side in a couple of years' time.” 

O’Sullivan said that the season format will provide him the opportunity to give opportunities to more young players in the upcoming campaign.

“The cup and the playoffs are knockout but there’s a 22 game season which will have points where we can give guys the opportunity to put their best foot forward,” he said.

“We have a good core of Irish players with Keelan Cairns, Adrian O’Sullivan, and Dylan Corkery all returning. We know we have that to fall back on. The main job is getting those new recruits to mesh in with the team.” 

One of the sides seeking to topple Ballincollig will be Neptune, who have a new head coach in the form of Adam Drummond.

“It’s a big job, I’ve been in the club since I was 4-years-old. The advice I’ve been given is, that when you get to this level, it’s more about putting the emotions to the side and focusing on the job ahead,” he said.

“The goal now is to implement things and put in the extra work required. If you look at the best teams in the league the last few years, three nights a week is the bare minimum. We want to put in that extra work.” 

Ballincollig's Ciarán O'Sullivan. Pic: Tom Maher

Given his lifelong history with Neptune, it’s no surprise that Drummond has circled the clashes with UCC Demons in his diary.

“That’s a derby that I grew up with. I probably haven’t missed one aside from the years I was in the States. I look forward to every game though because every game is difficult in this league,” said Drummond.

The newest arrivals to the Super League, Limerick Eagles, have some serious star power at their disposal in the form of Ireland international Ryan Leonard. He’s keen to prove the Eagles belong at this level.

“We have a lot of guys back from last year, it’ll be the first year in the Super League for a lot of them. They’re growing and getting better. If we keep improving on what we did last year, we'll have a really good chance,” said Leonard.

“As long as we can compete in every game, we have a good shot to definitely stay up and hopefully get into the playoffs. We’ll see where we can go from there.”