ON THE WEEKEND of the GAA club All-Star awards, the Dingle club made a touching gesture to their star defender Tom O’Sullivan.
He was on the shortlist for the Footballer of the Year award alongside his clubmate Dylan Geaney and Ruaidhrí Fallon from St Brigid’s. O’Sullivan was eventually chosen for the gong in a fitting end to Dingle’s All-Ireland-winning campaign which included his incredible tally of 0-15 from defence.
He wore the number four jersey but often operated from elsewhere.
A scheduling conflict with the Kerry footballers meant O’Sullivan was unable to attend the ceremony in Croke Park. His father Seán would be accepting the award on his behalf, while Tom was preparing to start against Mayo in Tralee the following day.
The Dingle club did all they could to try and untangle the logistics. They wanted O’Sullivan to enjoy that moment in person after such a sensational run, particularly since he missed Kerry’s All-Ireland win due to a calf injury.
“We were going to fly him up,” Liam O’Connor begins. O’Connor was a selector with Dingle in recent seasons. These days he operates from his base in East Cork, monitoring Dingle’s players in the Rebel County who train with the Blackrock club.
Tom lifting the trophy with his father Seán after Dingle's All-Ireland win. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“He’d be landing in Dublin airport at 6pm. We’d have flown him down the following morning.”
It couldn’t be done, however. O’Sullivan was needed for the latest step in Kerry’s league title defence, finishing that game in Austin Stack Park with one point to help seal an important victory over Mayo. The page had turned and O’Sullivan’s club understood his choices.
One upside from O’Sullivan’s absence was this impassioned interview from his father Seán, who is also the Dingle chairman.
"It can't get better can it?" @AIB_GAA GAA Club Footballer of the Year Tom O'Sullivan's Father Seán hails his son and his @DingleGAA teammates hard work and dedication as they claimed county, provincial and All-Ireland club glory! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/AjZkpxPMzm
“We’re blessed with him,” he began. “He’s given us so much joy from U8s all the way up through schools. You’ve got to pinch yourself. He had a tough year this year with the county. He got injured and I was hoping he’d have a good campaign for Kerry, but he had a fantastic run with the club.
“His dedication is incredible. He used to keep those small little copybooks that they have in school and he was writing in them every day what he was doing from a sporting point of view. This is beyond our dreams. We only wanted to win the county and we went on to beat the giants.
“It can’t get better, can it?”
Tom O’Sullivan has spoken before about his father’s enduring influence on his career. After defeating Austin Stacks to end that county title famine last October, he told the Kerryman: “These are all my best friends. My father is the chairman, my brother [Jack] is heavily involved. This has really driven me on.”
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Liam O’Connor expands further on the talented members of the O’Sullivan clan. Tom’s sister Kate was part of the Kerry team who won the 2024 All-Ireland final, coming on in the closing minutes as the Kingdom lifted the Brendan Martin Cup for the first time in 31 years.
Three-time All-Ireland winner and Kerry icon Dara Ó Cinnéide is a fist cousin of Tom’s mother, Treasa, while a granduncle of Tom’s was part of the Dingle team who won the club’s last senior county title in 1948.
The O’Sullivan family, however, was struck by a bereavement on the weekend of Dingle’s All-Ireland final against St Brigid’s of Roscommon. Tom has spoken about feeling the spiritual presence of his grandmother, Maura Murphy (nee O’Dowd), as he took to the field in Croke Park with his West Kerry comrades.
O’Sullivan soared in that game, supplying five crucial points from play. His last two scores were particularly vital as he levelled the game in extra-time before producing the palmed assist for Mikey Geaney’s winner.
Mikey Geaney celebrates after scoring the winning point for Dingle in the All-Ireland final. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
O’Sullivan believes his grandmother was a guiding force through those final stages, the angel on his shoulder bringing energy in a battle that seemed never-ending.
“The few plays I had at the end, maybe she was there,” he told the Irish Examiner. “She was definitely with us and I’ll miss her.”
Liam O’Connor was in Croke Park for Dingle’s glorious moment, and was back in Dingle as the O’Sullivan family navigated their way through those few days and the challenging emotions that came with it.
“It just wasn’t possible to organise a funeral,” he begins. “We were going to Dublin the following day and there would have been no question of the boys withdrawing from that.
“The last person who would have wanted that would have been his grandmother. So, we came home on the Monday and the wake was on the Tuesday and the funeral was on Wednesday.
“It was a tough few days for them. The whole weekend with Dingle was very emotional, but doubly so for the family.”
Tom’s aforementioned calf issue flared up during the first half of Kerry’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh. He was replaced by Evan Looney in the 24th minute and was later seen wearing a protective boot on his left leg.
After starring in Kerry’s 2022 All-Ireland final win over Galway, O’Sullivan was forced to miss the remainder of their successful run in 2025.
Kerry's All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh was O'Sullivan's last involvement in last year's championship. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
His clubmate Paul Geaney encountered similar struggles with his calf during last year’s All-Ireland championship. And while both were denied the chance to play a role in Kerry’s climb up the Hogan Steps, they were able to charge up for the club season with Dingle.
“Both of them had a long break, recovered from their injuries, and when they were ready, they came back and played for us,” O’Connor explains. “They were so refreshed, compared to watching other Kerry players playing for their clubs, who all looked a bit tired. Paul and Tom were phenomenal in the county championship for us, even though Paul was still carrying a bit of an injury off and on.”
O’Sullivan credits Dingle’s strength and conditioning coach Shane O’Rourke for the intensive work they did together to heal his leg. Their combined diligence was evident in O’Sullivan’s displays for the red and white.
His scoring stats were certainly impressive, registering 0-11 in the All-Ireland series and 0-15 overall. This two-pointer in the All-Ireland semi-final against Ballyboden illustrates the precision of his accuracy and the speed in his feet that propels him through opponents.
Already, we’re seeing O’Sullivan bring that attacking threat to the Kerry jersey this season.
He returned from his post-club season break for the Dublin game and has registered 0-8 in the league since then.
There was 0-5 beside his name after last weekend’s draw against Armagh, which was enough to send Jack O’Connor’s side back to the Division 1 final. O’Sullivan’s haul included two brilliantly taken two-pointers. His first just after half-time from just outside the arc pushed Kerry into a 0-14 to 0-11 lead.
The second was a sliced shot off the left boot from even further out.
(Skip to 2.36 for first two-pointer, and 3.30 for second two-pointer)
Of course, O’Sullivan’s skills as a shooter never comes at the expense of his defensive duties. It’s an art form which he has perfected since his schooldays with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne.
In the 2014 Hogan Cup final, the Dingle school were trailing St Patrick’s College Maghera 1-4 to 0-2 at half-time. O’Sullivan started that game at corner-back but manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice redistributed him at corner-forward in the second half.
It was an inspired move as O’Sullivan kicked two frees and Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne ended the game with a 1-8 1-6 win.
Now that he’s a seasoned senior, Dingle give him total control to strike that balance between attacking and defending.
“He knows the game,” notes O’Connor. “He knows what needs to be done at certain times and it would look as if Kerry are releasing him to do that as well.
“Obviously he’s one of the best man-markers in the game and he was doing that against [Armagh's] Oisín Conaty there last week, who’s a super player.
“He’s [Tom] probably a nightmare for any opponent because if you’re a forward, this guy is going to be marking you tightly. But then when Kerry or Dingle are in possession, he’s going to be looking for the ball to attack.”
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Mentioning O’Sullivan’s Hogan Cup past brings up another beloved son of Dingle. Mark O’Connor was central to their club’s All-Ireland victory in January after receiving permission from his AFL club, Geelong Cats, to travel home for their games.
According to Liam O’Connor, it was Mark’s Geelong teammates who helped make it all possible. They appealed to the club chiefs on his behalf that “he has to go back and finish the job for his hometown”.
Mark and Tom’s golden moment for Dingle wasn’t their only great Croke Park memory together. They were both key players on that Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne side in 2014, and once again in 2015, as the school retained the Hogan Cup after defeating Roscommon CBS.
The pair won a minor All-Ireland title with Kerry in 2014 too.
Mark hit a big milestone in his AFL career this week as he played his 150th game with Geelong against Adelaide on Thursday night. The game ended in a 9.14 (68) to 9.6 (60) for Geelong, with O’Connor leading his team off the field to mark the incredible achievement of becoming the seventh Irish player to reach that appearance number.
Life looks a little different for O’Sullivan this weekend on the other side of the world. In what is a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final, Kerry will put their Division 1 title on the line against Donegal tomorrow.
It’s an opportunity for O’Sullivan to get a taste of what he missed out on when the Kingdom dominated Donegal to lift the Sam Maguire. Liam O’Connor doesn’t believe he’ll look at it that way, though. The page has simply just turned again.
He’s not privy to the contents of those old copybooks that are filled with O’Sullivan’s boyhood thoughts and goals, but he doesn’t need to see any words on paper. What he sees is enough.
“He’s a self-motivator, a very deep thinker, but takes the game very seriously. He’s an exceptional guy like that.
“I think Tom would just see it as another game to be played, regardless of the opposition. I don’t think Tom would let that into his train of thought at all. It’s a league final.
“It’s a national final. You don’t take these things lightly. He will go into that game fully prepared mentally and physically.”
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Kerry's 'deep thinker' corner-back who scored 0-15 in All-Ireland-winning club season
ON THE WEEKEND of the GAA club All-Star awards, the Dingle club made a touching gesture to their star defender Tom O’Sullivan.
He was on the shortlist for the Footballer of the Year award alongside his clubmate Dylan Geaney and Ruaidhrí Fallon from St Brigid’s. O’Sullivan was eventually chosen for the gong in a fitting end to Dingle’s All-Ireland-winning campaign which included his incredible tally of 0-15 from defence.
He wore the number four jersey but often operated from elsewhere.
A scheduling conflict with the Kerry footballers meant O’Sullivan was unable to attend the ceremony in Croke Park. His father Seán would be accepting the award on his behalf, while Tom was preparing to start against Mayo in Tralee the following day.
The Dingle club did all they could to try and untangle the logistics. They wanted O’Sullivan to enjoy that moment in person after such a sensational run, particularly since he missed Kerry’s All-Ireland win due to a calf injury.
“We were going to fly him up,” Liam O’Connor begins. O’Connor was a selector with Dingle in recent seasons. These days he operates from his base in East Cork, monitoring Dingle’s players in the Rebel County who train with the Blackrock club.
“He’d be landing in Dublin airport at 6pm. We’d have flown him down the following morning.”
It couldn’t be done, however. O’Sullivan was needed for the latest step in Kerry’s league title defence, finishing that game in Austin Stack Park with one point to help seal an important victory over Mayo. The page had turned and O’Sullivan’s club understood his choices.
One upside from O’Sullivan’s absence was this impassioned interview from his father Seán, who is also the Dingle chairman.
“We’re blessed with him,” he began. “He’s given us so much joy from U8s all the way up through schools. You’ve got to pinch yourself. He had a tough year this year with the county. He got injured and I was hoping he’d have a good campaign for Kerry, but he had a fantastic run with the club.
“His dedication is incredible. He used to keep those small little copybooks that they have in school and he was writing in them every day what he was doing from a sporting point of view. This is beyond our dreams. We only wanted to win the county and we went on to beat the giants.
“It can’t get better, can it?”
Tom O’Sullivan has spoken before about his father’s enduring influence on his career. After defeating Austin Stacks to end that county title famine last October, he told the Kerryman: “These are all my best friends. My father is the chairman, my brother [Jack] is heavily involved. This has really driven me on.”
Liam O’Connor expands further on the talented members of the O’Sullivan clan. Tom’s sister Kate was part of the Kerry team who won the 2024 All-Ireland final, coming on in the closing minutes as the Kingdom lifted the Brendan Martin Cup for the first time in 31 years.
Three-time All-Ireland winner and Kerry icon Dara Ó Cinnéide is a fist cousin of Tom’s mother, Treasa, while a granduncle of Tom’s was part of the Dingle team who won the club’s last senior county title in 1948.
The O’Sullivan family, however, was struck by a bereavement on the weekend of Dingle’s All-Ireland final against St Brigid’s of Roscommon. Tom has spoken about feeling the spiritual presence of his grandmother, Maura Murphy (nee O’Dowd), as he took to the field in Croke Park with his West Kerry comrades.
O’Sullivan soared in that game, supplying five crucial points from play. His last two scores were particularly vital as he levelled the game in extra-time before producing the palmed assist for Mikey Geaney’s winner.
O’Sullivan believes his grandmother was a guiding force through those final stages, the angel on his shoulder bringing energy in a battle that seemed never-ending.
“The few plays I had at the end, maybe she was there,” he told the Irish Examiner. “She was definitely with us and I’ll miss her.”
Liam O’Connor was in Croke Park for Dingle’s glorious moment, and was back in Dingle as the O’Sullivan family navigated their way through those few days and the challenging emotions that came with it.
“It just wasn’t possible to organise a funeral,” he begins. “We were going to Dublin the following day and there would have been no question of the boys withdrawing from that.
“The last person who would have wanted that would have been his grandmother. So, we came home on the Monday and the wake was on the Tuesday and the funeral was on Wednesday.
“It was a tough few days for them. The whole weekend with Dingle was very emotional, but doubly so for the family.”
Tom’s aforementioned calf issue flared up during the first half of Kerry’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh. He was replaced by Evan Looney in the 24th minute and was later seen wearing a protective boot on his left leg.
After starring in Kerry’s 2022 All-Ireland final win over Galway, O’Sullivan was forced to miss the remainder of their successful run in 2025.
His clubmate Paul Geaney encountered similar struggles with his calf during last year’s All-Ireland championship. And while both were denied the chance to play a role in Kerry’s climb up the Hogan Steps, they were able to charge up for the club season with Dingle.
“Both of them had a long break, recovered from their injuries, and when they were ready, they came back and played for us,” O’Connor explains. “They were so refreshed, compared to watching other Kerry players playing for their clubs, who all looked a bit tired. Paul and Tom were phenomenal in the county championship for us, even though Paul was still carrying a bit of an injury off and on.”
O’Sullivan credits Dingle’s strength and conditioning coach Shane O’Rourke for the intensive work they did together to heal his leg. Their combined diligence was evident in O’Sullivan’s displays for the red and white.
His scoring stats were certainly impressive, registering 0-11 in the All-Ireland series and 0-15 overall. This two-pointer in the All-Ireland semi-final against Ballyboden illustrates the precision of his accuracy and the speed in his feet that propels him through opponents.
His equaliser in the All-Ireland final is another fine example as he barrels his way through two defenders before clipping the ball over the bar.
Already, we’re seeing O’Sullivan bring that attacking threat to the Kerry jersey this season.
He returned from his post-club season break for the Dublin game and has registered 0-8 in the league since then.
There was 0-5 beside his name after last weekend’s draw against Armagh, which was enough to send Jack O’Connor’s side back to the Division 1 final. O’Sullivan’s haul included two brilliantly taken two-pointers. His first just after half-time from just outside the arc pushed Kerry into a 0-14 to 0-11 lead.
The second was a sliced shot off the left boot from even further out.
(Skip to 2.36 for first two-pointer, and 3.30 for second two-pointer)
Of course, O’Sullivan’s skills as a shooter never comes at the expense of his defensive duties. It’s an art form which he has perfected since his schooldays with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne.
In the 2014 Hogan Cup final, the Dingle school were trailing St Patrick’s College Maghera 1-4 to 0-2 at half-time. O’Sullivan started that game at corner-back but manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice redistributed him at corner-forward in the second half.
It was an inspired move as O’Sullivan kicked two frees and Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne ended the game with a 1-8 1-6 win.
Now that he’s a seasoned senior, Dingle give him total control to strike that balance between attacking and defending.
“He knows the game,” notes O’Connor. “He knows what needs to be done at certain times and it would look as if Kerry are releasing him to do that as well.
“Obviously he’s one of the best man-markers in the game and he was doing that against [Armagh's] Oisín Conaty there last week, who’s a super player.
“He’s [Tom] probably a nightmare for any opponent because if you’re a forward, this guy is going to be marking you tightly. But then when Kerry or Dingle are in possession, he’s going to be looking for the ball to attack.”
Mentioning O’Sullivan’s Hogan Cup past brings up another beloved son of Dingle. Mark O’Connor was central to their club’s All-Ireland victory in January after receiving permission from his AFL club, Geelong Cats, to travel home for their games.
According to Liam O’Connor, it was Mark’s Geelong teammates who helped make it all possible. They appealed to the club chiefs on his behalf that “he has to go back and finish the job for his hometown”.
Mark and Tom’s golden moment for Dingle wasn’t their only great Croke Park memory together. They were both key players on that Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne side in 2014, and once again in 2015, as the school retained the Hogan Cup after defeating Roscommon CBS.
The pair won a minor All-Ireland title with Kerry in 2014 too.
Mark hit a big milestone in his AFL career this week as he played his 150th game with Geelong against Adelaide on Thursday night. The game ended in a 9.14 (68) to 9.6 (60) for Geelong, with O’Connor leading his team off the field to mark the incredible achievement of becoming the seventh Irish player to reach that appearance number.
Life looks a little different for O’Sullivan this weekend on the other side of the world. In what is a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final, Kerry will put their Division 1 title on the line against Donegal tomorrow.
It’s an opportunity for O’Sullivan to get a taste of what he missed out on when the Kingdom dominated Donegal to lift the Sam Maguire. Liam O’Connor doesn’t believe he’ll look at it that way, though. The page has simply just turned again.
He’s not privy to the contents of those old copybooks that are filled with O’Sullivan’s boyhood thoughts and goals, but he doesn’t need to see any words on paper. What he sees is enough.
“He’s a self-motivator, a very deep thinker, but takes the game very seriously. He’s an exceptional guy like that.
“I think Tom would just see it as another game to be played, regardless of the opposition. I don’t think Tom would let that into his train of thought at all. It’s a league final.
“It’s a national final. You don’t take these things lightly. He will go into that game fully prepared mentally and physically.”
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Closer Look GAA Gaelic Football Kerry GAA Tom O'Sullivan