Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
It’s culture, skill and wanting to play for Kerry
MIKE FRANK ON CONVEYOR BELT OF KINGDOM FORWARDS
‘Our hearts are bursting with pride.’
The Kilgarvan club posted on social media after Donal ‘Down’ O’Sullivan — their first ever player to line out for Kerry seniors — enjoyed a dream debut against Monaghan.
O’Sullivan hit 1-3 in the Division 1 victory at Killarney, despite appearing to suffer a second-half shoulder injury.
Independent TD Michael Healy Rae proclaimed it “a great day for our small parish,” and predicted “big things to come” for O’Sullivan.
The rest of us just scratched our heads again and wondered how do Kerry continue to churn out these top-class inside-forwards at a rate no other county can match — or even come close to.
After suffering a serious hamstring injury two years ago, where he tore ligaments off the bone and had to undergo surgery, O’Sullivan was out for a year.
In his time away, he worked on both sides and on his running technique. His fairytale bow hasn’t come out of nowhere.
Early last year, O’Sullivan starred alongside David Clifford in the University of Limerick’s run to the Sigerson Cup final, before lining out with the Fossa star again in East Kerry’s County Championship win.
Those Kerry structures again.
Path
Also on the East Kerry team was Darragh Roche, who has followed a different path to O’Sullivan, to force his way into the reckoning for Kerry.
Roche hit 0-3 (0-2 from play) in last year’s county final win over Mid-Kerry.
He featured on the same inside line as two Footballers of theYear
— James O’Donoghue and David Clifford — with O’Sullivan coming in off the bench for the last 10 minutes
Clifford hit 1-9 (1-6 from play) in that final.
He is the current standard when it comes to Kerry insideforwards.
That’s the type of competition Roche and O’Sullivan faced to get onto their divisional side, never mind the Kerry team.
It’s bound to drive standards. Roche — an All-Ireland junior winner with Glenflesk in 2016 — is 27, and in the form of his life.
He has 1-2 and 0-3 from play to his name in Kerry’s recent Division 1 wins over Monaghan and Donegal.
“I am delighted for Darragh
to be honest,” says Mike Frank Russell, one of the top insideforwards the county has ever produced.
“He was on the panel last year. He didn’t get game time. He might have been in for trials with Peter Keane.
“He has gone the long route. Talking about fellas sticking with it. That’s Darragh Roche.
“He is grabbing it with both hands. He knows how hard it is to get the chance, so he is grasping it. It will be interesting to see what his curve is this year.
“He could have been a fella that said, ‘No, this isn’t going to happen for me.’
“He has been shooting the lights out with East Kerry for the last number of years. It got to the stage where they couldn’t ignore him.
“It will be a step up now against Mayo for Darragh and Donal. “Donal, he arrived to the whole country the last day against Monaghan. People hadn’t heard about him.
“In Kerry, we would be very familiar with him from the club scene. It’s quite competitive.
Tallies
“I am still playing a bit of club football myself and we played his club in the county League last year, Kilgarvan, and he scored 2-14 against us.
“He has been putting up big tallies.”
Russell, who had won everything in the game before he turned 20, including All-Ireland senior titles with Kerry and Laune Rangers, a Sigerson and
an All-Ireland colleges title has helped out with a Kerry South Development Squad.
“Funny enough, Dylan Roche, I would have had him at devel opment squad level, the younger brother of Darragh,”he says.
“He may be another lad to look at. He is with the Under-20s
“Dylan is probably looking at Darragh. I suppose it is looking up to lads that have gone before you and that goes back to the tradition.
“There’s another lad, Paul O’Shea, a young lad. I wouldn't be ruling him out of the picture maybe next year.”
Most other counties would love to have a Roche or an O’Sullivan but it is Kerry who produced them. They also produced David Clifford.
“Look at the Kerrys, Dublins Mayos, Tyrones the last 10 or 20 years, they have been get ting to All-Ireland semifinals and finals,” says Russell, who still plays with his club’s second team.
“It’s like the Premiership -