Kerry Star Makes Championship Debut For New Club After Controversial Transfer

With the club championship season now in full flow around the country, a number of players will be lining out for new teams after being part of transfers in recent times. That includes one Kerry star, who has taken the rather rare step of transferring to another club within the same county.

Whereas the majority of club transfers involve moving to a team in another part of the country, there are some occasions where players switch between teams inside their county borders.

That is a route followed by Kerry forward Donal O'Sullivan in 2025.

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Having come through the ranks at Kilgarvan, Donal O'Sullivan would transfer to neighbours Kenmare Shamrocks for this season.

The move has caused quite a bit of debate in Kerry. The two clubs involved are only around nine kilometres apart, with Kilgarvan being an junior club while Kenmare Shamrocks are part of the senior ranks. O'Sullivan lives in Kenmare Town, making him eligible to transfer.

He also did not feature for Kilgarvan in 2024. As a result, he was allowed to switch clubs without needing permission from his former team due to the 48-week rule that allows players to change if teams if they had not lined out for their old side during that period.

The forward would start for Shamrocks in their Kerry Senior Club Championship opener against Dingle over the weekend, scoring one point in a 2-20 to 0-13 victory for his side.

Speaking to Clubber after the game, O'Sullivan said he was delighted to finally make his championship debut for the club, who had previously lined out for back at U10 level.

It was a big day now in fairness. I loved every second of it.

The weather held up fairly well and it's a lot more intense, faster ball, everything like that. It was very enjoyable out there...

I have (settled in). In fairness, I'd know a lot of the lads from school, I went to secondary school here with a lot of them.

I would have known a lot of them from the age of 11 or 12. I actually started out playing footballer here when I was under-ten.

I fit in there nicely. The management and players are great there, so I couldn't ask for a nicer group in fairness...

We will take one performance at a time anyway. The goal would be a Club Championship, but we're looking one performance at a time.

Kenmare Shamrocks will be hoping to put together a strong championship campaign, with the addition of their new forward a boost to their prospects over the coming weeks.

Donal O'Sullivan was part of the Kerry panel that lifted the Sam Maguire at Croke Park last month, although he did not play a large role in the county's championship campaign.