Cian O’Sullivan winning fitness race for final

Cian O’Sullivan is expected to train with Dublin next week, handing Jim Gavin a clean bill of health ahead of the All-Ireland football final meeting with Tyrone on September 2.

Cian O’Sullivan winning fitness race for final

By Brendan O’Brien

Cian O’Sullivan is expected to train with Dublin next week, handing Jim Gavin a clean bill of health ahead of the All-Ireland football final meeting with Tyrone on September 2.

The defender was taken off against Galway in the semi-final this month, shortly after contesting a ball and conceding a free. He held his lower leg as medics arrived and he was replaced.

O’Sullivan also missed most of the Leinster Championship with a shoulder issue picked up at the end of the league, but the Kilmacud Crokes man will now be able to take part in preparations as Dublin chase the four-in-a-row.

Yeah, it’s good news,” said Gavin at Dublin’s pre-game press night in Parnell Park. “You get the normal bumps and bruises that you would associate with a championship game, but we are healthy, which is great.

O’Sullivan is just one of three men to have started all five of Dublin’s All-Ireland finals stretching back to 2011 — Stephen Cluxton and James McCarthy are the other two — and Gavin has no doubt as to just how important the veteran is to his side’s continuing ambitions.

“He is a good leader. He drives standards, both on and off the pitch. He is a very experienced player and I have been fortunate to work with him through a lot of it. There are a group of players with that experience and it is important going into games like this that we can trade off that.”

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