IT MAY BE ALL-Ireland semi-final weekend, but you wouldn’t know, according to Darran O’Sullivan.
The Kingdom take on Dublin in what promises to be one of the games of the summer on Sunday but with manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice breaking from tradition by choosing to hold his training sessions behind closed doors this summer, the players have been kept out of the public eye in the build-up.
“It’s very surprising,” O’Sullivan says. “It has been quiet. The fact that we’re training behind closed doors, I suppose we’re just concentrating on our own business.
“And it means you don’t have people on the street telling you, ‘this fella is flying or that fella is flying’ because they haven’t a clue.”
The old rivalry will be re-ignited once again with plenty of talk about the epic battles of the 70s but although Dublin may be slight favourites, O’Sullivan is confident that this Kerry team can book a place with Mayo in the final.
“I don’t read too much into that side of things,” he explains. “I suppose it was going to be inevitable that they were going to be favourites as they have been hitting cricket scores at times.
They have been very impressive at times whereas we have stuttered and started in fits and bits. We’re kind of under the radar because we haven’t played well consistently so they’re rightful favourites.
“You’re always confident. We’re around a long time, this team. You’re always just hoping as a footballer that, the bigger the day, the more you’re going to want to play as a team.
“The bigger the day, the better you want to play. You would be confident that that can come out.”
