HELPING awakened hands
ALL-IRELAND FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2011 Tyrone win a dozing Blue monster from its slumber
CIAN O’SULLIVAN is banking on another landmark win over Tyrone to leave Dublin on the brink of a historic three-in-arow.
Back to back All-ireland champions Dublin haven’t played back to back Ulster champions Tyrone during the summer since 2011.
Experienced defender O’sullivan said Dublin’s sevenpoint win that day was the breakthrough moment for the current team.
They went on to win the Allireland two games later and he and colleagues like Bernard Brogan, Stephen Cluxton, Diarmuid Connolly and Paul Flynn have added three more since.
A repeat win six years on would leave Dublin just 70 minutes from becoming the first team since Kerry in 1986 to win three Allirelands on the trot.
O’sullivan said: “In 2011, I just remember it being a really comprehensive team performance, the kind of performance we had been really looking for since we got together as a group of players. Things just clicked for us on the day.
“That was a really satisfying game to be part of for me personally because I’d been out injured all year and that was the first game I was back for.
“To be part of a team performance like that was great and I think it was one of the great performances by this group of players.”
It is incredible to think that Dublin have only lost two Championship games since then, to Mayo in 2012 and Donegal in 2014.
Yet just two years before that 2011 triumph, he was on the pitch when Kerry blitzed Dublin by 17 points in the 2009 All-ireland quarter-finals.
O’sullivan came on for Bryan Cullen that day and made his debut but all anybody was talking about afterwards was Pat Gilroy’s ‘startled earwigs’ description of his players.
It’s the memory of that game that keeps O’sullivan grounded even after all the success he’s enjoyed.
He said: “I know what it’s like to be a in a dressing-room like that, where the team is on its knees. It wasn’t that long ago, eight years ago.
“We’ve just been really, really lucky to have players like we have. Stephen Cluxton, Bernard Brogan, Paul Flynn, Mick Macauley, all these guys,
“I’m constantly reminding myself that I’m very lucky to be playing for Dublin with these guys and to have won the last two All-irelands. I’m certainly not taking it for granted.”
Facing Tyrone will finally tick a box for Dubs boss Jim Gavin (above). He’s managed Dublin teams to Championship wins over all the other top counties - Kerry, Mayo, Donegal, Monaghan and Cork - since taking over in 2013 but the Dubs have only met Tyrone in the league in that time.
They’ve played five league games in total and there is just a point between the sides overall, in favour of Dublin who’ve beaten Tyrone twice, drawn with them twice and lost once.
The most recent meeting was back in February at Croke Park when Dublin rescued a draw after falling five down.
O’sullivan said: “They’re very defensively strong, nobody is ever going to put up a big score against them.
“And as you seen against Armagh, they’re capable of putting up big scores themselves.
“They put up 3-17 that day which is a great score. They seem to be ticking all the boxes and have some really, really strong players and runners that complement their style of play.
“It’s going to be a very, very difficult game for us and we definitely are aware of that.”