Kerry's Darran O'Sullivan: London GAA's most successful export
Monday 21 September 2015 13:06, UK
As Darran O'Sullivan prepares for Sunday's showpiece against Dublin, former coaches of the Kerry forward recall the emergence of London GAA's most successful export.
The speedy, body-swerving goal against Kildare in Croke Park in August, the winning captain's role in 2009, the four All-Ireland medals and the All Star award in 2011, offer a reminder of the talent so evident from an early age.
His pace triggers these memories and ones long before that around Greenford, north west London. Here, they still feel the afterburn.
Jump off the Central Line, descend through a thread of housing estates and you'll arrive at Tir Chonaill Gaels GAA club.
On dark winter nights, the beaming floodlights catch your eye from the tube bound for West Ruislip. It is here on the edge of London's sprawl that O'Sullivan the Gaelic footballer was born.
Back then he was on the books with Queens Park Rangers but he won an All-Britain title with the Gaels, where he played from U10 to U14 level.
Darran was very small then but he was very fast. His speed was the thing that made him stand out and he could score goals, just like now.
"He was with QPR right enough but he thought more of Gaelic football," says Denis O'Leary, his then coach and the longest serving member of Tir Chonaill Gaels.
From near Macroom, O'Leary says he spotted O'Sullivan playing U10s with rival club Heston Gaels.
"I seen this little fella and I said to the coach would you mind if he came with me?
"That Heston team were struggling a bit at the time so he said it was better for Darran to come to us.
"He had a brilliant solo of a ball, and we used to coach all the forwards to run at and take on defences.
"Over the next two to three years the team he joined just won everything."
Underage talent
O'Leary says O'Sullivan was one of a group of players who represented a spike in underage talent.
"Five of them had professional soccer careers," he says. "My own son Stephen, he signed with Luton and then later, Bradford City. A fella, Wayne O'Sullivan, was on the books with Arsenal. Some of them ended up in the lower leagues but they still had professional careers."
O'Leary remembers when Galway's Pat Donnellan brought a highly-rated team from Salthill and they just about squeezed past his Tir Chonaill side.
Often the reverse happened when O'Leary and company entered tournaments in Ireland.
"They couldn't get over our skill," he says.
Now he rates the GAA commitment of English-born players then connected to some of the world's best known soccer clubs as remarkable.
"Darran, for example, was just mad for football, he says. "He wanted the ball all the time.
"They'd all amazing confidence. I mean Darran was very seldom on the losing side and that continued when he went home and played with Glenbeigh, Mid Kerry and the Kerry seniors."
O'Leary believes this lineage of victory instilled a quiet confidence in a teenager who landed into Kerry with a London accent.
"No joke," he says now. "I remember when he left I told his father that he'd do 15 seasons in the Kerry jersey and he's getting up there now.
"We were great friends then and would still be now. I'd regularly be in touch with Darran and his family. When I'd go back to Ireland he'd be one of the first people I'd meet and he'd often bring the likes of the Gooch and Declan O'Sullivan along with him.
"In 2011 he scored this amazing goal against Cork in the Munster Championship. I remember speaking to him an hour before the game and telling him, 'don't let me down Darran!' Then he scores a brilliant goal.
"Afterwards, Cork people said to me that they were going to give me away," he laughs.
'His speed made him stand out'
Paddy Burke from Tir Chonaill Gaels remembers that youth team coached by O'Leary.
"There was a gang of them coming through that time," he says. "There was Gavin McEvoy who has won four senior championships and is still involved here, and Stephen O'Leary too.
"Darran was very small then but he was very fast. His speed was the thing that made him stand out and he could score goals, just like now."
Long-time coach and member, Seamus Carr remembers other youth players on the GAA scene from that time who went on to forge notable sporting careers, like Kieran Campbell who played for London Irish and Ulster.
Darran's story is not unprecedented however. British-born and nurtured players have history in the All-Ireland Football Championship.
In 1998, the Hehir brothers, Senan and Paul swopped the green of London for the colours of Clare and won a Munster title with their father's club Doonbeg, while lining out for the Banner in the provincial championship.
Meath's Joe Sheridan is another who moved to Ireland with a skill-set bred in Britain.
A notable example of overseas nurture in recent times is London full-back Philip Butler, who played in the 2013 Connacht final against Mayo and was a fixture through that history-making campaign.
Transition
The big difference with O'Sullivan is that he completed his GAA education in Ireland and arguably in the best finishing school. And, he's the highest achiever.
"He had the skills to make the transition," says Burke. "So when he went home he walked into Kerry underage teams and adapted pretty quickly.
"If he stayed you wouldn't have known where things might have ended up with Queens Park Rangers."
O'Leary says O'Sullivan's successes continue to reverberate throughout the club and remain a great source of satisfaction even 15 years after his departure.
"They [the members] bring it up," he says. "Especially this time of year when Kerry are in an All-Ireland final.
"When Darran comes back to London he'd say to me, 'we won so much at underage'. It was such a natural thing for him and the other players on that team to win."
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