Éamonn Fitzmaurice has paid tribute to Declan O’Sullivan, who announced his inter-county retirement on Wednesday, and the Kerry manager believes the five-time All-Ireland winner was one of the Kingdom’s “best ever players, and definitely one of Kerry’s best leaders”.
O’Sullivan’s decision to retire was due to long-standing injuries, and he has struggled with issues relating to his knees, in particular, this season.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Fitzmaurice, who played with O'Sullivan before his own retirement in 2006, paid tribute to the departing Dromid Pearses man, saying the Kingdom was losing a massive leader and faithful servant, and outlining the efforts he had made to overcome injury.
“He’s an incredible servant,” Fitzmaurice said. “He always has been, but I mean, with us this summer, he really put himself on the line to get from game to game.
“He got a knock at the end of the Clare game in the Munster semi-final, and he got through the Munster Championship fine, but after that it really was a case of managing his knees just to get him from game to game.
“He had to really dedicate himself for that. He did an awful lot of one-on-one training, and the medical team, our physios Eddie Hartnett and Ger Keenan, and Padraic Corcoran did a lot of one-on-one work with him. They managed to keep him going through the summer, and Declan’s own determination to get from game to game [was significant].
“He sacrificed an awful lot this summer to try and get the last drop out for Kerry.”
"He sacrificed an awful lot this summer to try and get the last drop out for Kerry" - Éamonn Fitzmaurice on Declan O'Sullivan
Fitzmaurice also praised what he described as a “fantastic stubborn streak” in O’Sullivan, saying that it had helped him through his time with Kerry.
“It was a great part of his nature that he was very determined and he wouldn’t give up, regardless of what obstacles were put in his path. It was part of what made him great, really, and I’d say it’s a part of his character he would be proud of himself. But yeah, he was definitely stubborn as a mule.”
Fitzmaurice said he had left behind “an incredible legacy” but that “for people that were in the dressing-room with him, it isn’t really about what he’s won, it’s what he contributed, in terms of the leadership he brought to the dress-room and the way he’d be regarded by the other players.
“Even this summer, the way, as the summer was going on, when he was finding it physically difficult, the way he adapted to a role coming in off the bench to finish games out for us, the way he adapted to that role, and took it head on and took pride in it, it was a great sign of him.
“The legacy he leaves is of one of Kerry’s best ever players, and definitely one of Kerry’s best leaders that ever wore the green and gold.”
Fitzmaurice said O’Sullivan’s retirement was not a great shock and that his knee difficulties were well known. Although O’Sullivan is quite young to have retired – he is only 30 - he has an extensive inter-county record, amassing 70 Championship appearance since his debut in 2003. Eventually, Fitzmaurice suggested, time caught up with him.
“It more so the amount of miles he has on the clock rather than his age,” Fitzmaurice said. “He was hoping to continue into the 2015 season, but having had both knee injuries assessed in the last month or so, it became clear to himself that it would be probably beyond him to get to the levels that he needs to be at for 2015, so he decided it was time to move on, unfortunately.”
