Fáilte chuig gaa.ie - suíomh oifigiúil CLG

Football

football

Darran O'Sullivan hoping a rest will do him good

Darran O Sullivan.

Darran O Sullivan.

​By Paul Keane

It's still just a few days after the All-Ireland football final - a final that Kerry weren't involved in - so Darran O'Sullivan is brooding.

The will to win clearly still burns brightly in the 31-year-old Kerry forward because he says straight up that he didn't much enjoy watching Dublin and Mayo battle it out for the big prize.

"I took off to France before last year's final, it was only half an hour before the game that I thought I'd go down and watch it," said O'Sullivan, a four-time winner himself.

"This year, I hid out at home and watched it on my own. My wife to be hid upstairs because I'm not the easiest person to be around, I'm a small bit bitter!

"I think that's normal. I can't really understand when I see players from other counties Tweeting about how exciting the game is - how can you be excited about a game that you want to be playing in? I wouldn't even watch it with the Kerry lads, I'd watch it on my own."

Kerry won the Munster championship and only lost out to Mayo after an All-Ireland semi-final replay though, for O'Sullivan personally, it was a frustrating year.

He played for Kerry a week after winning an AIB All-Ireland club title with his club Glenbeigh-Glencar last February and reckons that was a mistake as he felt exhausted at times in the coming months.

"In hindsight, I would have stayed away for an extra few weeks," said the 2009 All-Ireland winning Kerry captain. "I found it hard to get going until after the Munster final, just couldn't get myself going.

"I don't have a whole pile to play now between here and next year. So I'm hoping the rest will do me good."

Darran O'Sullivan

Darran O'Sullivan

The speedy forward, who set up a new business recently, Rosspoint Bar and Restaurant, and will get married in the coming weeks, is open minded about playing on with Kerry in 2018.

"If Eamonn Fitzmaurice and the management want me back, I'll probably come back but they might want to go down a different direction, bring in young lads on and so on," he said, reflecting on three appearances as a substitute in the Championship.

One of those young lads currently on Fitzmaurice's radar is David Clifford, their rising star forward who scored a breathtaking 4-4 for Kerry in the minor final win over Derry, bringing his campaign takings to a staggering 8-41.

The minor skipper is still 18 but is six-foot-two in height and weighs in at well over 13 stone. Allied to his skill set, he appears to have all the credentials to play senior football in 2018.

"He's an exceptional talent, frightening," said O'Sullivan. "He's a massive man as well. I do think people have to be a bit realistic. I mean he's not Roy of the Rovers who is going to dictate everything for Kerry and win the All-Ireland. It's not comic book stuff.

"They do have to mind him. It's a pity that if you're playing senior, you can't play U-20s also because that is a great way to develop.

"People sometimes forget - disregarding his football ability - that there's a big difference between an 18-year-old marking an 18-year-old, and an 18-year-old playing senior and marking a 28-year-old who has been around the block and knows a lot more tricks of the trade and a few verbals as well."

*** Sky Sports have partnered with the GAA on three key grassroots initiatives which will see the broadcaster invest a total of EUR3m over five years. The three initiatives are; GAA Super Games Centres, #GAAyouth Forum and the GAA Games Development Conference.**