O’Sullivan’s all smiles despite fitness battle
CIAN O’SULLIVAN is in a race to be fit for the start of the Super 8s on July 15 as he is currently recovering from shoulder surgery to rectify an injury suffered against Kerry last month.
The centre-back is one of only three players to have started each of Dublin’s five All-Ireland finals since 2011 [James McCarthy and Stephen Cluxton are the others], which underlines his importance as Jim Gavin’s defensive linchpin. However, it looks like Dublin will have to defend their Leinster title without their assured sweeper.
‘The Leinster Championship could possibly come a bit too soon,’ the Kilmacud Crokes man said yesterday at the launch of the All-Ireland smiles campaign. ‘I’ll just see how it goes over the next couple of weeks.
‘But I’d be quite disappointed if I wasn’t back training fully by the time [the Super 8s come around]. Certainly, I would hope to be back by then. The earlier I can possibly get back, the better but I don’t want to constrain myself with any target dates.’
Even though the Super 8s are a few months away, the concept has already stirred up some controversy with Dublin getting two home games in Croke Park while every other team has one home game at the quarter-final stage.
O’Sullivan side-stepped the contentious issue, simply stating that Dublin footballers are happy to line out at any venue and the prospect of travelling to Castlebar or Killarney for an All-Ireland quarter-final excites the defender.
‘As players, we get those questions about Croke Park put to us but players aren’t involved in an administrative capacity,’ O’Sullivan pointed out. ‘We will play where we are asked to play and we have no issues by going anywhere to play.
‘As a team, we quite enjoy travelling to different venues and different stadiums. There’s a good buzz, and there is a far better atmosphere playing a packed-out stadium of 30,000 people than playing in front of 30,000 at Croke Park, when it can feel like it is empty.
‘And it would be incredible to play a big game outside Croker if we do get to the Super 8s. You are trying not to look too far down the road but there’s no denying that it’s in the back of your head, having to go to play an All-Ireland quarter-final on another team’s home patch. The atmosphere is going to be electric and the Dublin fans, what can you say about them, you see the numbers they travel in to Castlebar or Kerry for League games. And they travel in great voice, too. If we do get there, it will be something to savour.’
O’Sullivan is among a few highprofile casualties that have been sidelined for the All-Ireland champions in recent months. Jack McCaffrey ruptured his cruciate ligament in last year’s Sam Maguire Cup decider while Bernard Brogan endured the same injury earlier this year. However, O’Sullivan doesn’t believe the injury list has anything to do with the amount of miles on the team’s clock.
‘They are not soft tissue injuries which you’d normally associate with heavy training loads. They are just unfortunate collisions, twists and turns. The two lads just tore their cruciate, which is just the luck of the draw it seems. Some players seem more predisposed to them than others.
‘My injury was just wear and tear coupled with an unfortunate collision. We have picked up a few injuries but we are still hoping that we will have a good summer with a good complement of players to choose from.’
O’Sullivan wasn’t aware of the fact that he was one of three Dublin players to start each final and was pleasantly surprised to be informed of it.
‘That’s pretty cool and good company to be in with those two. It is something to be proud of, but having picked up my fair share of injuries in the last few years, I have just been lucky that in the latter part of the Championship, I have been injury-free.’
He was at risk of missing the final in 2015, having suffered a hamstring injury in the semi-final replay win over Mayo. It was touch-and-go whether he would play in the days before the decider against Kerry with his potential absence all the more significant as he was the vital cog in how Gavin had reconfigured his defence following the semi-final ambush by Donegal the previous season.
In the end, O’Sullivan lasted 60 minutes of that final and he reckoned it was the most personally satisfying of his five All-Ireland successes as he worked so hard to get onto the field.
‘The replay that year meant I had only two weeks to get it right. It was a race against time, but it was an All-Ireland final, so you just had to throw the kitchen sink at rehab. I tried every possible thing to get back, cryotherapy, everything that was suggested to me.
‘Thankfully, I lasted 60 minutes in that All-Ireland final. I was able to get through it. It was really personally rewarding for me to just turn it around in such a short space of time. There was great satisfaction in just getting out on the pitch.’
He doesn’t have quite the same race against the clock this summer, but if Dublin are to win their fourth All-Ireland title in a row, it is likely that they will need Cian O’Sullivan starting his sixth final.