Declan O'Sullivan

Declan O'Sullivan

Personal information
Irish name	Déaglán Ó Súilleabháin
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Centre-forward
Born	Cahersiveen, County Kerry
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Occupation	Shop Manager
Club(s)
Years	Club
2002-resent	Dromid Pearses
Club Titles
Kerry titles	4
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County	Apps (scores)
2003-present	Kerry	42 (7-44)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	6
All Irelands	4
NFL	3
All Stars	3

Declan O'Sullivan (born 1983 in Cahersiveen, County Kerry is an Irish sportsperson. He plays Gaelic football with his local club Dromid Pearses, his divisional side South Kerry and has been a member of the Kerry senior inter-county team since 2003. O'Sullivan captained Kerry to back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 2006 and 2007.

Playing career

Club

South Kerry

O'Sullivan plays his club football with his local club Dromid Pearses and with his divisional side South Kerry and has enjoyed much success. After garnering minor and under-21 county titles with South Kerry, he later went on to become a star at senior level.

In 2004 O'Sullivan tasted victory for the first time as a footballer when South Kerry qualified for the final of the county senior championship. The opponents on that occasion were Laune Rangers. The divisional side were far too powerful on that occasion and secured a 1-13 to 2-5 victory. It was O'Sullivan's first county senior winners' medal.^[1]

O'Sullvan's South Kerry side reached the county final again in 2005, this time with Dr. Croke's providing the opposition. In what was considered a dream final, the game turned into a close affair. After the sixty minutes South Kerry retained their title and O'Sullivan picked up a second county winners' medal.^[2]

In 2006 South Kerry still dominated the club championship in Kerry. The final that year was a repeat of 2005 as Dr. Crokes set out on a revenge mission. The game developed into an extremely tense battle with no side taking a substantial lead. At the full-time whistle South Kerry just about retained their title for a third consecutive year on a score line of 0-12 to 1-8. It was O'Sullivan's third county winners' medal.^[3]

South Kerry had the chance to make history in 2007 by capturing a fourth consecutive county title. All went to plan as the divisional side found little difficulty in reaching the final once again. A divisonal side from the other half of the county, Feale Rangers provided the opposition. The game was an extremely close affair, however, O'Sullivan's side were finally bested as Rangers went on to win by 1-5 to 0-6.^[4]

In 2009 for the third time in 5 years South Kerry and Dr.Crokes faced each other in the county final. South Kerry ran out one point winners on a score line of 1-08 to 0-10 giving Sullivan a fourth county championship medal.

Dromid Pearses

In 2004 he helped Dromid Pearses win there first ever South Kerry Senior Football Championship beating St Marys on a scoreline of 0-09 to 0-07 in the final.

After losing out in 2010 O'Sullivan led Dromid Pearses back to the final of the Junior County Championship but this time thanks to 4 O'Sullivan landed Dromid Pearses there first Junior title.

Inter-county

Declan made his first championship appearance for Kerry in 2003 against Tipperary. He won the National Football League and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2004 with Kerry, beating Mayo GAA comfortably. 2005 was slightly less successful for O'Sullivan, with Tyrone GAA beating Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. In 2006, O'Sullivan became Kerry captain. He captained Kerry to a comprehensive All-Ireland final victory over Mayo in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2006 final. He had lost his place in the side after the Munster Final Replay defeat to Cork and was booed off by a minority of his own fans. However, he won his place back to lead the team out for the All Ireland Final and scored the opening goal in the 4-15 to 3-05 demolition of Mayo before leading the team up the steps to lift Sam Maguire and shared the honour with Colm Cooper (who had captained the side in his absence). Again Kerry had completed a League-Championship double.

In 2007, O'Sullivan had easily his best year so far, scoring crucial goals against Monaghan and Dublin, the latter coming in the classic Semi Final. Declan became the first man since Tony Hanahoe in 1977 to lift Sam Maguire twice as Kerry trounced Cork by a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-09. Kerry ironically became the first team to win consecutive titles since Cork in 1990 the same day. 2007 saw Kerry claim the Munster title. O'Sullivan was the winner of the Opel Gaelic Player of the Month award for August,^[5] and Kerry went on to claim the All-Ireland title by thrashing Cork 3-13 to 1-9.^[6] O'Sullivan was selected at centre-forward on the GAA All-Stars Awards team.,^[5][7]

Declan is also the winner of a Munster minor football championship and a Munster Under-21 football championship as well as having Munster and All-Ireland Vocational Schools championship medals.

Declan is the fourth person after Dick Fitzgerald, John Joe Sheehy and Joe Barrett to twice captain Kerry to All-Ireland glory. He is also only one of eight people to lift the Sam Maguire cup twice.

He was replaced by Paul Galvin as captain of the Kerry footballers for the 2008 season.^[8] O'Sullivan also received a knee injury in June which ruled him out for eight weeks.^[8]

Honours

Dromd Pearses/South Kerry

• Kerry Senior Football Championship:
  • Winner (4): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
  • Runner-up (1): 2008, 2005, 2011
• Kerry Under-21 Football Championship:
  • Winner (2): 2003, 2004
• Kerry Minor Football Championship:
  • Winner (3): 1999, 2000, 2001
• South Kerry Senior Football Championship:
  • Winner (1): 2004

Kerry

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship:
  • Winner (4): 2004, 2006 (c), 2007 (c), 2009
  • Runner-up (3): 2005 (c), 2008, 2011
• Munster Senior Football Championship:
  • Winner (6): 2003, 2004 (sub), 2005 (c), 2007 (c) 2010 2011
  • Runner-up (3): 2006 (c), 2008
• National Football League:
  • Winner (3): 2004, 2006 (c), 2009
  • Runner-up (1): 2008
• Munster Under-21 Football Championship:
  • Winner (1): 2002
  • Runner-up (2): 2003, 2004
• Munster Minor Football Championship:
  • Winner (2): 2001, 2002

Schools

• Munster Colleges A Championship:
• Winner (2): 2001, 2002
• All-Ireland Vocational Schools Senior Championship:
• Winner (1): 2000
• All-Ireland Vocational Schools Junior Championship:
• Winner (1): 2000

References

1. ^ "South Kerry and Fitzie end the wait". Irish Examiner. 2004-11-08. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2004/11/08/story98349178.asp. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 
2. ^ "South Kerry retain title". Irish Times. 2005-11-14. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2005/1114/1130406947091.html. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 
3. ^ "South Kerry land historic three-in-a-row". Irish Examiner. 2006-11-13. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2006/11/13/story18139.asp. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 
4. ^ "Rangers end South’s dominance". The Kingdom. 2007-12-27. http://archives.tcm.ie/thekingdom/2007/12/27/story26083.asp. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "RTÉ Sport GAA Championship: Football All Stars 2007". Rte.ie. 2007-10-19. http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/footballallstars2007.html. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
6. ^ "RTÉ Sport: Kerry 3-13 Cork 1-09". Rte.ie. 2007-09-16. http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2007/0916/kerrycork.html. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
7. ^ 19/10/2007 - 22:22:43 (2007-10-19). "O'Sé brothers create history at All-Stars". BreakingNews.ie. http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/mhmhcwidojkf/. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Rustic retreats. "Six-month ban leaves Galvin's career in tatters - Gaelic Football, Sport". Independent.ie. http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/sixmonth-ban-leaves-galvins-career-in-tatters-1413534.html. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dara Ó Cinnéide	Kerry Senior Football Captain 2005	Succeeded by Colm 'Gooch' Cooper
Preceded by Colm 'Gooch' Cooper	Kerry Senior Football Captain 2006-2007	Succeeded by Paul Galvin
Achievements
Preceded by Brian Dooher (Tyrone)	All-Ireland Senior Football winning captain 2006-2007	Succeeded by Brian Dooher (Tyrone)

Teams

Persondata
Name	Osullivan, Declan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1984
Place of birth	Cahersiveen
Date of death
Place of death