As James McCarthy slalomed through the Mayo defence for the umpteenth time, Cian O’Sullivan couldn’t help but shake his head in admiration. After all these years, Dublin’s most resilient warhorse was still galloping over the trenches.
They shared enough pitches over the years for O’Sullivan to appreciate how much of a leader McCarthy continues to be for Dublin. O’Sullivan made his debut in 2009, while McCarthy got tangled up in blue the following season.
Together, they became central players in the most successful Gaelic football team of all time. McCarthy is still out there, raging against perceptions his Dublin days are nearing an end.
O’Sullivan’s football career was brought to a close in 2021 because of persistent injuries, he had been troubled by recurring hamstring problems while over the years he also underwent hip and shoulder surgery.
O’Sullivan, 35, has attempted to make a return to club football with Kilmacud Crokes in recent years, but his body keeps telling him to put the boots away.
“I’d love to play but no, I can’t,” he says. “I tried last year to go back with our junior team but after a couple of weeks I gave out.
“This year, I thought if I do a block of preseason, strength and conditioning, I might be able to get back playing with the second team and take it very slowly, but even going at 60 per cent tilt I was picking up calf injuries and hamstring injuries.
“It’s just not going to happen, it’s not practical, even if it was remotely possible I would have to devote a lot of time to get my body right.”
He was injured for most of the 2020 season but returned for one final push with the Dubs the following year.
“In 2020, I was sidelined for 95 per cent of the year but in 2021 I still had the fire and hunger in the belly and there was a question mark in my head, can I get my body right for one last throw of the dice at it?
“But as soon as I came back, I wasn’t even able to get up at 70-75 per cent of the pace without picking up an injury. We had a challenge game against Monaghan, funnily enough, and I tore my calf and that was it. That was my third or fourth injury in the space of a couple of months.”
He can appreciate the enduring brilliance of McCarthy, 33, who continues to drive the standards for this Dublin team.
“Yeah, it’s crazy,” adds O’Sullivan. “James McCarthy has always been a Rolls-Royce player, a warhorse for Dublin for the last 13, 14 years and is continuing to put in top performances. His on-field leadership has been matched by his off-field leadership. He’s incredible.
“He’s really impressive. If you look at the physical shape and athleticism that he has been able to maintain at this stage of his life, and he’s had his issues with injuries in the past too.
“I’m sure there are one or two niggly things going on in the background he’s contending with that we’re not privy to, but to be able to put in performances like that, it’s very impressive. Dublin are blessed to have him.”
Dessie Farrell’s side enter Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final against Monaghan as strong favourites, while Kerry are tipped to overcome Derry on Sunday.
But when O’Sullivan considers the last four contenders for Sam Maguire, he is interested in the varying range of motivating factors within the respective dressingrooms. In particular, this Dublin group have something to grasp which his squad was rarely able to access – the hurt of defeat and that old chestnut, ‘everybody is writing us off’.
However, given the Dubs have come up short now for the last two years, O’Sullivan wonders if they are using that as fuel during this campaign.
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“What intrigues me is what is motivating all these teams that are left in the championship. When we were playing, what was driving us was something different to other teams who were trying to win their first All-Ireland,” recalls O’Sullivan.
“That hurt piece, we never really had to contend with that when we were successful and performing really well, which was a real challenge for that team to keep the motivation and the drive up.
“Whereas now you are off the back of getting demoted to Division Two, Dublin haven’t won an All-Ireland in two years, there are plenty of questions asked of the team, so is that motivating force and the driving force among the squad?
“I’m not part of the group any longer so I have no clue how they’re framing this season. In previous set-ups we would have completely ignored all that stuff.
“That was a distraction, whereas now there is energy to be gained off that, there definitely is, so are they using that? I don’t know. We’ll see.”
– AIB ambassador Cian O’Sullivan was speaking in advance of this weekend’s All-Ireland SFC semi-finals at Croke Park.
