LAST UPDATE | 15 Jan 2023
IT’S 2019 AND Niamh O’Sullivan is lying in a hospital bed in Sydney.
Knee surgery certainly wasn’t part of the travel plans. Neither was football.
The previous September, she and her Meath team-mates were left dejected in Croke Park after their first All-Ireland intermediate final defeat to Tyrone.
O’Sullivan was captain that day. Later that month, she set off on the adventure of a lifetime. “I wanted to go travelling and if I didn’t go and probably be selfish, I would never go,” the experienced forward tells The42.
Asia. Australia; its east coast, to be more specific. New Zealand.
A far cry from the Banks of the Boyne.
The years leading up to that had been turbulent in the green and gold jersey. There were good days in her early teens in the senior ranks, but then came the struggles: being “down in the dumps”, as well as the drop to intermediate — questioned at the time — and the downfall, all of which has been well-documented through their remarkable resurgence to back-to-back All-Ireland senior titles.
A break was needed, and the southern hemisphere was the perfect place for some time away.
“I didn’t intend to play football out there but got roped into play with Michael Cusacks in Sydney,” O’Sullivan explains.
“Had a great time, played a lot of pre-season tournaments, we won the Melbourne Sevens.”
That fresh adventure, however, quickly turned sour ahead of the start of the league campaign when she suffered the dreaded cruciate ligament injury.
“It just happened training, did the knee. The grounds, unfortunately, aren’t as great as here in Ireland.”
Thankfully, she went under the knife fairly quickly, under the watchful eye of an Irish surgeon in Sydney, and didn’t let the setback completely scupper her plans. She finished up in New Zealand, where she visited family.
Home was calling in the summer of 2019.
“Deep down, I knew I wanted to come back and play with Meath, so that was obviously a drawback to come home and to get working on the knee.
“Paul Garrigan [former Meath coach] was absolutely fantastic to me when I was away. He kept linking in with me, making sure if I was coming back to get back into the team. I remember I was only back and he got me into Barry McEntee, the physio, straightaway, and told me to come back to trainings and games. The welcome back I got from the girls was unbelievable, I didn’t even feel like I was away.”
“That’s the special thing about this group,” she adds. “Everyone is welcomed, everyone feels part of the team and deep down, we’re a really big family who really look out for each other.
“I think that’s really shown on the pitch in the last few years. I know skill and hard work gets you over the line, but I think a lot of it comes down to our relationship we have with each other. We really, really trust — that’s an important worth to have in a team, and I think that’s really what has shone through in the Meath Ladies.”
364 days after that first All-Ireland intermediate final loss to Tyrone, O’Sullivan — not long home from her travels — watched on as they fell short to Tipperary. “Losing two All-Irelands in-a-row was hard, but I always believe you have to lose some to win some,” she nods.
It’s been far from straightforward, a story of triumph over adversity, both individually and collectively. Three All-Ireland medals — intermediate honours from December 2020 and back-to-back senior Celtic crosses — and an All-Star later, its all been worth it.
Lying in that hospital bed in Sydney, little could O’Sullivan ever imagine what she and her newly-repaired knee could achieve in the years which followed, and the whirlwind journey that Meath would go on.
“I would often say to myself, ‘Jesus… I was 29 travelling, was age going to come against me doing the knee?’ A lot of people have said I’ve come out stronger and I actually feel a lot stronger than in my early 20s playing.
“I do believe I’m playing my best football, I’m probably enjoying my football again a lot more since the injury. I’ve definitely come out the better side of the injury.”
“It’s a hard injury, a lonely injury,” O’Sullivan says as she lists off all of those who supported her through it: her “family” at the Michael Cusacks in Sydney, and at home, her clubmates in Dunshaughlin Royal Gaels and her inter-county team-mates in Meath.
“That really helped me drive on to overcome the injury. Look, I’m really grateful that I have special friends.”
O’Sullivan has been a key player for the Royals since her return, a livewire in attack who leaves it all on the field and chips in with invaluable scores off her classy left boot.
She starred in the 2021 All-Ireland final win over Dublin, her 0-3 tally key as Eamonn Murray’s side etched their name into history forevermore, and was Player of the Match and joint top-scorer in the ’22 decider success against Kerry with 1-2.
Turning 33 in the coming weeks, O’Sullivan is showing no signs of slowing down, and admits there was no doubt in her mind about going again this season despite the wholesale changes in the camp.
“I knew I could go another year. I kind of reassess after every year. The legs do get sore, but I knew I was enjoying my football. I think as long as you’re enjoying football, it’s important to try and keep playing.
“The reason I’ll stop playing maybe is the legs will give up or I won’t be enjoying my football anymore. But at the moment I’m really enjoying it.”
She’s hell-bent on kicking on in 2023 under new manager Davy Nelson, with the 2021 and 2022 successes “firmly pushed aside”.
There was little time for reflection when the curtain came down the ’22 inter-county season, straight from the celebrations into club — O’Sullivan’s Dunshaughlin reached their first-ever senior county final — before the various different festivities, awards and a team holiday.
She also travelled to Kenya with 49 other GAA stars as part of the ‘Warriors for Humanity’ initiative and ‘Plant for the Planet Games’, run by former Galway dual player Alan Kerins.
“Oh my God, unbelievable,” she beams, detailing the trip, from visiting schools to playing matches and meeting people, including world-class athlete David Rudisha and his Cork-born coach, Brother Colm O’Connell.
Can’t wait to tune into TG4 on Sunday to relive our amazing trip to Kenya😍🇰🇪
— Niamh O' Sullivan (@niamhosulliv23) January 12, 2023
Be sure to tune in. @selfhelpafrica @4abrighterworld @gaelicplayers https://t.co/qeqe1Ng3c9
“I don’t think people realise, global warming is a massive part of our society and life, but people in Kenya are feeling the effects of it more than the likes of people in Ireland. It just really opens your eyes.”
A primary school teacher in St Seachnall’s, Dunshaughlin, she’s looking forward to reliving it all through a TG4 documentary later today, before the madness starts once again when the league gets underway next weekend.
The three in-a-row bid kicks into gear, as Meath look to continue their remarkable rise.
Little time for reflection.
Onto the next one.
“You do appreciate it, but I think I’ll definitely appreciate it more when I stop playing and when I look back on it more,” O’Sullivan concludes.
“I don’t think we realise what we’ve done to the county. The amount of people wearing Kepak jerseys, the absolute joy we have brought to the county. People are saying it to us, but I don’t think as girls, we actually fully realise what we’ve done. I know personally I probably won’t realise until I’ve definitely finished up playing.”
That could be a while away yet.
2023, and Niamh O’Sullivan is in the form of her life.
The Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs Every Step Counts Challenge 2023 is taking place from 11 January to the 15 February, and will encourage both GAA club members and non-members alike to get walking with a goal of 4,000km per club.
