O'Sullivan: Winning a game in county series is a priority

FOR Brian Terry O’Sullivan, the next target is simple: win a game in the county junior A football championship.

The Cork junior (26) picked up his fifth Beara JAFC winner’s medal, as well as the man-of-the-match award, but his sights are already set on the county series.

Irrespective of last weekend’s Beara final, both Garnish and Urhan progress to the county rounds, but teams from the division haven’t made an impact here.

For all their recent dominance in Beara – Garnish have won five of the last six finals – they’ve fallen at the first hurdle in the county every time. St Colum’s (2013), Ballygarvan (2014), Cloyne (2016) and Whites Cross (2017) have all beaten Garnish.

O’Sullivan is keen for that to change.

‘It was great to win this, the three-in-a-row, but this is just a stepping stone for us because we want to get over the next round of the county,’ O’Sullivan said.

‘We have a bigger target this season – the county.

‘We have won a few Beara finals, this is my fifth now, and our next target has to be the first round of the county.

‘I don’t know when was the last time we won a game in the county. We were disappointed last year, we lost by a goal after extra time, but we want to go further this year.

‘We’re going to knuckle down now and build on the momentum after winning the Beara final.’

O’Sullivan was named man-of-the-match last weekend but it’s a team effort, he stresses.

‘Eanna Murphy was very solid at full back, he is our leader from the back, he is part of the Beara seniors for the last five, six years, and you have Joe Harringon in there too – that’s a strong defence and we showed that in the second half,’ he explained.

‘David (Harrington) broke his leg against Whites Cross last year and came on at half time. He lives and works in London but he is still coming back. When you see him putting his body on the line, that inspires other fellas. That’s dedication.’

Commitment like Harrington’s is needed, O’Sullivan adds. ‘Where we are from, numbers are tight as it is and we’ve lost a lot of fellas to emigration. Fellas down here are involved in fishing, farming, tourism, so it’s hard to get lads out all the time. We put in a hard three weeks in the run-up to Saturday and this is a great victory for us, a massive win,’ O’Sullivan added.