‘I’m used to living in such a capable body. So it was very strange to be all of a sudden living in this body that didn’t do what I wanted it to. It was incredibly infuriating at times.'
Cillian O’Sullivan played for Meath in 2024 championship despite being diagnosed with Multiple SclerosisLike the spring night he went back to full-contact training with Meath and made it clear to everyone that he didn’t want any special treatment, whereupon the team’s spiritual leader Donal Keogan thoroughly obliged him on the very first ball he went for.
“I thought it was a pinched nerve that would relieve itself after a while. But it came to a head when Caoimhe had to cut my steak for me in Argentina. I couldn’t use a knife and fork, I couldn’t tie my shoelace. “It’s a big time difference. He wasn’t calling me for the shits and giggles. He just said, ‘Look, there’s some indications on the scan. You need to come home, you need to get a flight’. The scan was showing up white spots on my spinal cord. That turned out to be a big dirty lesion.
“It was attacking my spinal cord and the brain. Specifically I knew it was attacking the protective covering around my spinal cord. The lesion was on the left side of my spine, which explained why the left side of my body was what was affected.” “We played Kildare in the league in March ‘23. There was a ball coming towards me in the first half and I was just like, ‘I have no idea where that ball is or how I’m going to catch it’. Just from my orientation point of view. Next thing, the ball hits me, hits my hands. And I don’t know what happens but it’s gone over the sideline.
Meath's Cillian O'Sullivan in action against Dublin's Lee Gannon and John Small in 2022. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho They mapped out a path. Every six months, he will go into hospital for an infusion of an immunosuppressant. He will feel a bit weak for a few days afterwards – in crude terms, they’re scything off a portion of his immune system each time. Otherwise, he has to rest, reduce stress, take Vitamin D and . . . that’s about the height of it. For now, anyway.
“Football changed for me. It used to be about winning championship games, the team performing well, full-stop. It still remained all of that. But it became something a lot different as well. It became a bit of a container for me in terms of processing and managing my feelings.
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