By Michael Devlin

Darran O’Sullivan grew up in Kerry fed on the tales of Mikey Sheehy, Jack O’Shea, Ogie Moran and the likes, a team of legends led by a legend, Mick O’Dwyer.

Though despite the wealth of All-Ireland medals accrued throughout the late 1970’s and early 80’s by those greats, O’Sullivan says it’s the shadow of Offaly in 1982 that still hangs over the careers of the Kingdom's most gilded footballers.

With Dublin’s footballers going into this Sunday's final with the weight of a similar history on their back, Kerry on the contrary “couldn’t be in a better position” says O’Sullivan.

“I genuinely think all the pressure is on Dublin, just because when you look at the great Kerry teams, Jacko’s team, Micko, Ogie, all you talk about it Offaly. It’s gas like, they are still taking about it, ‘They lost five-in-a-row’. The big thing is that this game will not define the Kerry lads, but it could define a few Dubs.”

The former Kerry All-Ireland winning captain believes his county’s run to this weekend’s decider has come a touch premature in their own development, with much of the team having not long graduated from a succession of All-Ireland minor wins. But the bristling confidence of this youthful Kerry team can serve as a huge advantage, says O'Sullivan.

“Peter [Keane] came in this year, four experienced lads retired, he obviously got rid of four or four five lads, so there’s maybe double figures of players gone. So there’s definitely a period of transition. People knew that this Kerry team coming would have heaps of potential and would get into All-Ireland in time. Personally I thought it would take a year or two, so they are there a year or two early. They are going to this final as no-hopers.

“So I actually think Kerry are in a great position. It’s not a free pass, it’s a final, and you want to win every final. It’s not a given that just because you’re young, we’ll be back next year or the year after, we’ll have loads of chance. That’s not the way it is. But I don’t think anyone realistically thought Kerry would be in the All-Ireland this year, with all the changes they made.”

O’Sullivan remembers coming into the Kerry senior team with a similar air of exuberance as a fresh-faced teenager in 2005. An All-Ireland minor winner two years before, he recalls biting the inside of his cheek to hide his giddiness as he warmed up to make his senior debut. It wasn’t until he got older that the weight of nerves began to take effect on his game.

“I was like, ‘Jesus Christ if he sees me laughing, he won’t bring me on’. I just wanted to get out there and play, and that’s the way these boys will want to be.

“Whereas, as I got older, ‘Jesus, six years gone, seven years gone, I haven’t that many years left. This is my chance now, we’re on the cusp of something great, if we don’t do it this year, we have to start again from scratch’. All these things are going through your head.”

The Glenbeigh-Glencar man has to count on his fingers the amount of All Ireland finals he contested in his 14-year Kerry career. After a brief calculation, he comes to the number eight, successful four of those times, and winning captain once, in 2009. He always revelled in the build-up to the big day.

“The first half of the week after the semi-final is a few beers and recovery. You only have ten days to do any actual training. It’s grand, you’re just buzzing like. You’re fine tuning a few things, obviously you are focusing on the team you are playing against.

“Then you have all the perks – you get your gear, your suit, your tickets – you hand the tickets off to the family and make sure to sort them out. But in terms of the training it’s great. What else would you be doing only sitting around being depressed that someone else is in there.

“Obviously if you were only coming on, you aren’t getting game time, then you going hammer and tongs for those ten days. As a starter, you can see these fella’s trying to get on the team so you’re trying to up it. But at the same time you want to be aware, ‘Jesus I can’t pick up a knock here’, so you have to be smart as well.

“It’s a bit of a balancing act there, especially with management too, you’re trying to hold fella’s back a small bit that you don’t kind of blow a head gasket before a final. The challenge is mostly on the manager to keep fella’s tuned in, fresh, but at the same time not letting it drop too much, it can be tough enough.”

O’Sullivan was one of an experienced quartet to end their Kingdom careers at the end of last year, alongside Donnchadh Walsh, Kieran Donaghy and Anthony Maher. New manager Keane shook up the squad further for 2019, with established players such as former captain Fionn Fitzgerald, Barry John Keane and Mark Griffin all excluded for the new campaign.

The replenishment of the squad allowed for Kerry’s myriad of burgeoning young talent to come to the fore, exemplified by the impact of attacking starlets David Clifford and Sean O’Shea. O’Sullivan believes their development was sped up by the mass exodus of older players.

“The biggest compliment I can give them is that they are already leaders of the team. It’s fine to be one of the better players, but they are genuine leaders of the team now, which is just incredible. It just says an awful lot about their temperament as people. The fact that so many of the older fella’s have gone has probably made it easier for the younger fella’s coming through.

“They’re all mates, they’re all good boys off the field, they’ve all been through an awful lot of football together anyway. They just take into it. Young lads like that don’t really have fear, and I think the confidence that Peter has given them to go out and keep trying to do the right things.

“I don’t think any of them are afraid to make mistakes, which is a great thing coming into the Kerry game this year more than any other, that fella’s aren’t afraid of making mistakes. They keep trying to do things. Peter’s big thing is to keep playing football a certain way. You don’t go into your shell, don’t be afraid to try things, because if you get afraid to try things, you’ll get caught out.

“The second half against Tyrone is evident of that. It wasn’t a great first half, the players didn’t play well, things didn’t go their way, they made the wrong decisions. They came out in the second half a bit worried how they’d react to the first proper half of bad football. But it was like the first half didn’t happen.

“They just kept doing the same things, this time they were a bit more clinical, a bit more sure of themselves, and the decisions were right."

It’s fair to say O’Sullivan had a decent go in the green and gold jersey. Four All-Ireland medals, and an All-Star in there as well, O’Sullivan commented as he retired, “I’ve been extremely blessed to have had a career I could never have dreamed of.” How does he assess his first year away of the inter-county scene then, looking in from the outside?

“Hated it.”

“My wife Laura said to me, ‘You’re like someone who can’t let go’. I was going to away league games and everything. I went up to Cavan this year!

"It was nice to go to the league games. The league games were cold and wet. I was like, ‘It’s grand being in the stand with a cup of tea watching it’. But when the championship came around, going to the Munster final was tough.”

O’Sullivan wasn’t in Croke Park for the Tyrone semi-final though. Instead he and his family, along with 2014 winning co-captain Kieran O’Leary and his wife were on holiday in Croatia, a circumstance he says that occurred by a mix-up of dates.

Himself and O’Leary absconded to a local bar to take in the game, and O’Sullivan admits a few expletives were uttered as Kerry battled to a 1-18 to 0-18 win to book their place in the final.

“It’s hard going to be honest. Like that, the body feels great, because I’m doing a lot of my own training. You’d be there thinking, Jesus Christ I could still be up there. I can still do something. But it’s just a load, the body wouldn’t be able for that. Too busy and stuff. Next year might be easier.”