Cian O’Sullivan reckons it will take quite some time for the realisation to sink in that he has become Dublin’s first hurling All Star in 12 years.
The Dublin forward woke on Thursday morning to his phone lighting up with messages and calls after news emerged that he had been named at wing forward on the 2025 All Star hurling team.
And if that in itself isn’t enough cause for celebration, it’s a week of birthdays in the O’Sullivan household too.
“The phone started hopping when I woke up and I was like, ‘I’d better ring mum and dad,’ because something’s obviously come in,” he smiles.
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“It was my mum’s birthday (on Thursday) too, so it was great. And then it’s my dad’s birthday on Saturday so we’re all having a big celebration on Friday night.”
O’Sullivan finished the 2025 championship as the joint highest scorer from open play, his haul of 5-22 (37) leaving him level at the end of the campaign with Tipperary’s John McGrath who amassed 7-16 (37).
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The 27-year-old is only Dublin’s eighth hurling All Star and the first in the capital since 2013 when Liam Rushe, Danny Sutcliffe and Peter Kelly were selected. Rushe is Dublin’s only two-time winner having also picked up an individual award in 2011.
Dublin’s other All Stars are Gary Maguire (2011), Alan McCrabbe (2009), Brian McMahon (1990) and Mick Bermingham (1971).
“I remember being a kid in Croker and watching those lads (the 2013 All Stars) playing for Dublin. You don’t even think about it at the time, so to be included in the same conversation and having achieved the same accolade as those players, it won’t sink in for a while.
“Individual awards are never the goal but when it happens you’re not going to turn them down. It’s cool.”
It is also a very proud achievement for his club, St Brigid’s. He’s the club’s first hurling recipient and only their second ever All Star after Barry Cahill became their inaugural winner when he was named on the 2007 football team.
Among the congratulatory messages he received on Thursday were dozens from club colleagues.
“It means the world, the club has been a big part of my life since I was four years old,” O’Sullivan adds. “So to represent them at the highest level, it’s an honour.
“People from all over have been so good with their messages. Down through the years I might have helped out different clubs, maybe even just for a session, but the managers and coaches from those teams text me as well, so it’s been great.”
But O’Sullivan’s journey to success was certainly not a trouble-free linear one. Indeed he had to overcome several injury setbacks in recent years before arriving at this landmark moment in his career.
In June 2024 he required hamstring surgery for a second time – an injury which could have derailed his intercounty career was it not for his refusal to allow his days in blue to end on such a low note.
“There almost wasn’t a journey. Coming back from the second hamstring surgery you are probably really only hoping for a season where you get a bit of game-time and don’t get injured again,” he says.
“It was a full reconstruction job and it took a good bit of time to get back. You almost don’t understand what it means to you until it’s taken away.
“So, for the season to turn out the way it has is testament to what everyone in the group has done. I’m not putting it on myself here, it’s Dublin hurling going in the right direction.”
O’Sullivan didn’t score in Dublin’s opening championship game against Offaly but thereafter put together a remarkable run in front of the posts.
His scorecard reads: 0-3 v Wexford, 1-3 v Antrim, 1-5 v Kilkenny, 0-3 v Galway, 0-2 v Kildare, 1-1 v Limerick, and 2-5 v Cork.
All that and in many ways O’Sullivan is a gamekeeper turned poacher. He played most of his underage hurling as a defender and was centre back in Dublin’s 2016 Leinster title winning minor team.
But when he was called up to the Dublin senior panel the following season, he essentially reinvented himself as a forward.
Then Dublin manager Ger Cunningham told O’Sullivan he was contemplating trying him at corner back, but the St Brigid’s player offered a counter proposal of a road-test at corner forward.
O’Sullivan scored a goal in Dublin’s Walsh Cup opener against Carlow in Parnell Park that January and so began his rebranding as a forward.
Due to a combination of injuries, studies and travel, O’Sullivan has missed several seasons, but he found form and remained injury-free this term, leading to a deserved All Star.
As for 2026, the goal is a collective one with Dublin.
“I think we have a nice mix there now with players my age and then younger lads coming in as well so hopefully we can kick on again. It’s about growing the panel and leaving the jersey in a better place.”
