This week Kerry’s Declan O’Sullivan announced his retirement from county football.
The 30 year-old said in a statement that “now is the right time” and that it had become “impossible for me to physically compete at the required level” due to a number of injuries.
Off the ball spoke to O’Sullivan’s former manager Jack O’Connor, who coached him from a young age.
O’Connor spoke in glowing terms of O’Sullivan’s career, saying that despite being relatively young, he had played football at a high level for a remarkably long time:
“The man has had a truly great career. He’s not just done it with Kerry, but with his club, district and college.
“The amount of football this man has played is incredible. He has a lot of miles on the clock, a lot of hits taken.”
Since the announcement, many former team mates have spoken about O’Sullivan’s remarkable character. O’Connor spoke about his drive to win:
“He was a ferocious competitor and he played an awful lot of hard football.
“He had an unbelievable attitude towards winning and competing.”
O’Sullivan, along with the rest of the Kerry squad, hit a rough patch in 2006 after losing the Munster Finals to Cork. With tensions high and sections of the Kerry crowd booing the captain, O’Sullivan was put under an enormous level of stress, though eventually proved his doubters wrong:
“It was a character building moment for him to have to face that and then to fight to come back.
“Then he captained Kerry in that All-Ireland and the following year and won three All-Stars in a row then, so the boo boys got their answer.”
O’Connor also confirmed rumours that O’Sullivan actually quit his job during the troubled 2006 period to try and regain his form.
Regarding the injuries, O’Connor believes that the amount of games he played at local level, which often too his season into November, eventually took its toll on his body, forcing his retirement.
When asked where he would place O’Sullivan in the all-time Kerry greats, O'Connor said he would place him alongside Seamus Moynihan in terms of his competitiveness.
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