Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
When we won, I thought of my dad and his dream
O’SULLIVAN MOTIVATED BY CLUB COMMUNITY
FROM “the depths of despair” — literally on the floor of the Croke Park Players’ Lounge on the worst day of his hurling career — to an uncontrollable outpouring of joy out on the field, Shane O’Sullivan has run the gauntlet.
The pictures of O’Sullivan at the final whistle of Ballygunner’s recent All-Ireland club final triumph over Ballyhale Shamrocks need no explanation.
His first game for Waterford came as an 18-year-old, and it wasn’t just any game — an AllIreland semi-final at Croke Park against Kilkenny, back in 2004.
Waterford lost by 3-12 to 0-18.
Croke Park and Kilkenny sides would go on to define the biggest days of O’Sullivan’s hurling life, in a career that isn’t bookended just yet. A near two-decade struggle to finally get to the top.
That has effectively meant finding a path to eventually overcome that in-built Kilkenny mentality.
Four years after his county debut, O’Sullivan and Waterford endured “the absolute disaster” that was the 2008 All-Ireland final.
Hapless
A sporting car crash unfolding in front of the nation. A hapless Waterford were annihilated by Brian Cody’s Kilkenny side.
It was a horribly painful pit stop on a long journey for O’Sullivan, a performance coach with his own business, Inspiring Excellence.
The wheels came off that day. O’Sullivan and Waterford have slowly been putting them back on to the point where there’s only one nut to tighten now.
Fourteen years after 2008, and with building block after building block laid by his Ballygunner club, O’Sullivan, now 36, is out on Croke Park.
He’s down on one knee, leaning on his hurley, sobbing like there is no tomorrow, after Harry Ruddle’s dramatic last-gasp goal did a Ballyhale on Ballyhale.
What an incredible way to win, and cruel as it sounds, against a team that epitomises everything Waterford sides are not when it comes to the crunch in All-Ireland finals at Croke Park.
The flip side is, they are getting there. This was an invaluable psychological victory.
Ballyhale were going for a ninth successive All-Ireland final victory in their tenth decider, but this wasn’t about them.
This was about Ballygunner. This was about their family.
Moments
And those precious moments on the field afterwards, with his son Ferdia and his people, building an unconscious and generally unspoken legacy for the future of their club.
He always believed, but that belief was sorely tested at times.
The next night he was walking down into a village that numbered 100 people back in the 1950s. Thousands lined the roads, decked out in red and black, under a starlit sky. “It was just immense,” he says.
Could life really get any better?
This was the culmination of a long-held dream for O’Sullivan, his father and the eight-in-row Waterford champions.
At a stage, it was something very few would talk about.
“Back in the ’50s, when we were formed, there was an old village here,” he says. “I’d know all the history because it was drilled into me by my father.
“Seeing thousands of people there with Ballygunner jerseys, flags and bunting. People that were ill in our community. People that didn’t know if we’d ever get to Croke Park.
“Grown men like, 60 years of age, tears rolling down their cheeks as we walked down the village. Seeing those people and what it meant to them, that was the biggest visual indentation in my mind. And some of the stories stuck with me.
“Vinny Connors was one of the greats that played back in the ’60s — there’s not many of that older generation left.
“His son told me a story. He said the minute after we won the match his father got down on his knees and he just started bawling.
“He said, ‘I’d never seen my father cry’, and that man is nearly 70 at this stage.
Happy
“Then he asked him, ‘Would you die a happy man?’ He said, ‘I’d die a happy man now, but give me a week first to celebrate it’.”
O’Sullivan laughs at the thought of it: “Those stories reinforce the sense of community.”
His father, the late Pat — a club great — had a vision, a long time ago, way before Ballygunner had even won a county championship.
“He was speaking about All-Ireland clubs,” continues O’Sullivan.
“I remember, as his son, being embarrassed in a sense at the time, because of Irish humility — you don’t want to be sticking your head above the parapet.
“But by God, when we won the game, I thought of him.
“Here he is, with me as his son. Six grandchildren on the team, his other son is the manager, and his other son is the selector.”
The dream. The belief.
The seed was sown, tended to and grew in impressionable young minds.
It was passed from father to son to grandson.
“I just think that vision that he has probably kept with me — and I definitely believed, always, that it was possible,” says Shane.
“We had such a great group of people and players from the management all the way down to the younger group.
“Five of them that finished the game won an All-Ireland at 20.
“I was in one of the under-20 lads’ houses after and I asked him, I was just curious like, ‘How many times have you got bet with Ballygunner?’ They are very successful (at underage).
“He said, ‘Never’.
“I got bet more times than you can imagine, as much as we won.
“That generation, they really do believe and it came through
with Harry’s goal, and even the way they performed at such a high stage.”
If the ultimate high was last month, the ultimate low was the 2008 All-Ireland final defeat by Kilkenny. It was apparent from very early on that afternoon that Waterford weren’t close to the pitch of the game.
Family
Crushed 3-30 to 1-19, O’Sullivan came on at half-time when the game was long since over.
“The pinnacle is the club, to win with your family, your friends, your community — it is for me anyway,” he continues.
“The difference between winning and losing is extreme. 2008 was an absolute disaster for us.
“In my opinion, the mindset left us down there. We had incredible players, an incredible team, technically brilliant, very fit.
“I don’t think we did ourselves any favours mentally. We weren’t prepared mentally for that game, and I think subsequent Waterford teams learned from that experience.
“I did, personally. I know we did as a group. I remember being in the player’s lounge after the game, sitting on the floor and I remember Ken McGrath was with me.
“You talk about the depths of despair, and the worst moment of maybe your huling career.
“Then you fast forward to last month and the euphoria — the way we won it. The passion and energy around it, the love and togetherness in the community.
“It’s just total extremes, one end to the other. You can’t even describe it.
“From a psychology and sports performance perspective, you try not to get your identity wrapped up in sport because it can have a really negative effect on your life if you do and are not successful.
“The more you can distance yourself from that perspective, the better you tend to perform.
“You can play with less fear and anxiety, more freedom and expression, more presence to the moment, broader perspective and focus.
“That’s the difference between winning and losing is contained within that.”
O’Sullivan’s CV is a lengthy and impressive one.
Three graduate diplomas, a Masters and a range of certificates in Professional Leadership, Executive Coaching, Sports and Exercise Psychology, Education and Conscious Business Coaching.
There’s also an outlier — a degree in Maths and Economics from UCC. It’s fair to say he’s well qualified to talk to players as well as business leaders.
His hurling CV is top-notch as well, and he isn’t done yet.
“It’s a lot of commitment but it gives you great confidence that you are able for that level, going in against some of the best hurlers in the country,” he says.
“When you are up with even inter-county lads in the runs and games and you are well able.
“I feel really good. I love hurling. I love sport. I love my club.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to pass your time than to train with our club in Ballygunner and try to win County Championships, Munsters and All-Irelands.
Privilege
“It’s a privilege, maybe denied to other people. I will be the first person to put the hand up when the clock has ticked over, but I will go back to intermediate or junior.
“I won’t stop because I love it so much. The togetherness in the community in Ballygunner is so strong. It’s more than just hurling.
“It’s life and life in a positive way, and it’s an outlet that’s so positive — 100 per cent I’ll be going again.”