On Tuesday night, Arsenal went to Munich and did what they do every February: capitulate.
They lost 5-1 to Bayern, effectively ending their Champions League ambitions, a week after they were humbled by Chelsea, effectively ending their Premier League ambitions.
Dion Fanning wrote about that European embarrassment, suggesting the weakness which runs through that club could be summed up in captain Laurent Koscielny limping off with the game still in the balance.
He compared it to Paul Ince coming off for Liverpool against United in the FA Cup back in 1999. That also coincided with a collapse and it sparked one of Gerard Houlier’s finest moments:
“When my team are 1-0 up at Old Trafford in a cup tie, I don’t expect my captain to limp off with an injury,” the Frenchman said at the time.
Ince did limp off. Laurent Koscielny limped off.
Different game, different culture, different men.
There was no way in hell Darran O’Sullivan would limp off. Jesus, don’t be silly.
Darran O'Sullivan caps it for Glenbeigh-Glencar
Proceeds to do battle with the ball catchers!#TheToughest pic.twitter.com/IExpn2YQF7— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 19, 2017
After 15 or 20 minutes of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Junior Football Championship final, the Kerry legend went down with a real nasty injury. It virtually ruled out one leg for him after he had hit a special 1-1 in the opening 10 minutes.
When he appeared for the second half, his left leg was bandaged so much that it probably doubled its weight but O’Sullivan carried on. He won ball, he ran, he kicked one over off his right instead, he put another over with his fist instead.
Speaking on AIB GAA’s superb coverage of both the junior and intermediate games, the Glenbeigh-Glencar man revealed that he had a few words with the club physio who was concerned about the attacker.
“He was sort of wondering if I could carry on but I told him to go away from me,” O’Sullivan said after his club’s three-point win in the junior final.
“He’s a good guy but he knew well I wouldn’t be coming off so he strapped me up nicely. He was doing overtime there in fairness to him.
“I took a bit of a rattle about 15 or 20 minutes in but it’s one of them days you just have to plough through it.”
“Arsene Wenger would never make such an unreasonable a demand on his players, but when his captain Laurent Koscielny went off four minutes into the second half, Arsenal may have craved a bit of unreasonableness…” wrote Fanning.
That’s probably the difference. It means too much for people like Darran O’Sullivan to let a knock rule them out of stages like this. He knows he’s too important to the team and the team means too much to him.
We’re talking about a man here who has won four All-Ireland titles with Kerry but none of them compared to the junior decider with his club, where just over 9,000 people descended on Croke Park.
“I didn’t really understand just how big an occasion this would be,” O’Sullivan said. “This journey and the build up to the day. There’s a lot of emotion running through minds – it’s the biggest game in both clubs’ histories.
“This definitely tops anything I’ve done before. It’s hard to put into words just what this emotion and this journey means to the parish.”
He did that well enough. He did his talking on the pitch – the same pitch he refused to leave.
Now, things are a lot more plain-sailing.
“City West next and back home for a couple of hairy nights.”
This is what the GAA is all about. That performance, that attitude and that emotion from Darran O’Sullivan would tell you everything you’d ever need to know about what the club really means.
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