Declan O'Sullivan

Declan O'Sullivan (born 18 December 1983) is an Irish former sportsperson.

He last played Gaelic football with his local club Dromid Pearses, his divisional side South Kerry and at senior level for the Kerry county team between 2003 and his retirement in 2014.

Declan made his first championship appearance for Kerry in 2003 against Tipperary.

In 2004 O'Sullivan tasted victory for the first time as a footballer when South Kerry qualified for the final of the county senior championship.

The opponents on that occasion were Laune Rangers.

The divisional side were far too powerful on that occasion and secured a 1–13 to 2–5 victory.

It was O'Sullivan's first county senior winners' medal.

In 2004 he helped Dromid Pearses win their first ever South Kerry Senior Football Championship beating St Marys on a scoreline of 0–09 to 0–07 in the final.

He won the National Football League and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2004 with Kerry, beating Mayo GAA comfortably.

O'Sullivan's South Kerry side reached the county final again in 2005, this time with Dr. Croke's providing the opposition.

In what was considered a dream final, the game turned into a close affair.

After the sixty minutes South Kerry retained their title and O'Sullivan picked up a second county winners' medal.

The final that year was a repeat of 2005 as Dr. Crokes set out on a revenge mission.

The game developed into an extremely tense battle with no side taking a substantial lead.

At the full-time whistle South Kerry just about retained their title for a third consecutive year on a score line of 0–12 to 1–8.

It was O'Sullivan's third county winners' medal.

In 2005 aged just 21, O'Sullivan was named Kerry senior football captain.

It was slightly less successful for O'Sullivan, with Tyrone GAA beating Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.

O'Sullivan captained Kerry to back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 2006 and 2007.

He is regarded as one of the all-time great centre forwards.

In 2006 South Kerry still dominated the club championship in Kerry.

In 2006 O'Sullivan captained Kerry to a comprehensive All-Ireland final victory over Mayo in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2006 final.

He had lost his place in the side after the Munster Final Replay defeat to Cork and was booed off by a minority of his own fans.

However, he won his place back to lead the team out for the All Ireland Final and scored the opening goal in the 4–15 to 3-05 demolition of Mayo before leading the team up the steps to lift Sam Maguire and shared the honour with Colm Cooper (who had captained the side in his absence).

Again Kerry had completed a League-Championship double.

South Kerry had the chance to make history in 2007 by capturing a fourth consecutive county title.

All went to plan as the divisional side found little difficulty in reaching the final once again.

A divisional side from the other half of the county, Feale Rangers provided the opposition.

The game was an extremely close affair, however, O'Sullivan's side were finally bested as Rangers went on to win by 1–5 to 0–6.

In 2007, O'Sullivan had easily his best year so far, scoring a crucial goal against Monaghan and scoring 1–03 in a man of the match performance against Dublin, the latter coming in the classic semi-final.

In 2009 for the third time in 5 years South Kerry and Dr. Crokes faced each other in the county final.

South Kerry ran out one point winners on a score line of 1–08 to 0-10 giving Sullivan a fourth county championship medal.

After losing out in 2010 O'Sullivan led Dromid Pearses back to the final of the Junior County Championship but this time thanks to 4 O'Sullivan landed Dromid Pearses their first Junior title.

The later added the Munster Junior Club Football Championship title to their winnings for the year.

Since retirement, O'Sullivan has taken the role of selector with the Kerry minor team for the 2015 season.

As part of Jack O Connor's backroom team, in O'Sullivan's first season as selector, they captured the All-Ireland title.

While O'Connor completed the historic back-to-back All-Ireland titles.

O'Sullivan joined Jack O'Connor as selector for the Kerry under-21 football team for the 2016 Championship season.

Born in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, O'Sullivan plays his club football with his local club Dromid Pearses and with his divisional side South Kerry and has enjoyed much success.

After garnering minor and under-21 county titles with South Kerry, he later went on to become a star at senior level.