Ian O'Riordan talks to the Cork full back Diarmuid O'Sullivan about the long, hard road to regaining his place on the team

You look at Diarmuid O'Sullivan and wonder what he means by letting himself go. Over six feet and 15 stone and still his body-mass index goes way off the charts. Like he's all weight, carved head to toe from stone, but without an excess ounce.

Yet six months ago he says he was out of shape, that his hurling season was still looking bleak. This from the player who will start Sunday's All-Ireland final as the rock of the Cork defence.

"Well it was looking very bleak for me at the start of the year," he says. "Firstly it was the break I took after last season. It was the first time in five or six years I took a real break, and just laid off on everything. And I was sort of letting myself go a little bit. And I suffered with that.

"But I was also still involved with the footballers. That meant league matches every weekend, and missing out on some of the hard training sessions in between. And I fell back big time on fitness."

So the league was passing by and O'Sullivan wasn't getting a look-in with the hurlers. At the first major crossroads of his career, he decided to direct his energies towards hurling, determined to rediscover the form that four years previously had seen him win an All-Ireland hurling title at the age of 21.

"Well it was time to put football aside," he adds. "That decision was made just prior to the Galway league game in Páirc Uí Rinn, at the start of March. At the time I'd have said the dual commitment was not a problem. But realistically, if you look back over the past 12 months my hurling was not up the standard I'd always set myself."

Still he had to find his way back into the hurling scene. The league match against Wexford was pending and O'Sullivan reckoned he'd be given his chance. Instead Donal O'Grady told him how far behind he was in the necessary fitness.

"Sure, there was no hiding behind it. I knew I was gone behind myself. Donal just had a few words, but I realised there was truth in it. So he deserves the credit for saying it, and I just took it on the chin.

"What it meant was outside the panel training I was spending every extra night with Jerry Wallace, the Cork trainer. Even two weeks before the Clare championship game I was still with him, trying to catch up with some extra work. And again after the Clare game. So it has taken an awful lot to get back."

As Sunday's final against Kilkenny lies in wait O'Sullivan can reflect not only on a season that has gone full circle, but on the four years since he collected the All-Ireland senior medal that was expected to be the first of many. Regaining his position at full back, however, wasn't always the priority.

"I had a couple of league games at full back, went half back for one. I missed a couple of weeks with injury and when the championship came around played corner back, before moving to full back for the last 10 minutes of the Clare game. And I've been more or less there since. But look, it's not something I'm bothered about. There is serious, intense pressure for places within this panel. Being left out at the start of the year was a major kick in the arse for me, and I was just delighted to get back in to play anywhere."

The input of O'Grady this season has been somewhat hard to analyse for outsiders, but O'Sullivan is clear on how deep the manager's influence has run.

"Well we've had the four championship games now, without a defeat. So he must be doing something right. As a coach he's straight up, and to the point. And if you don't like that it's tough on you. It's his way or no way, but that's the right way because it keeps every player in check, and every player in line."

But in pinpointing the reason this season has been already been so much more successful than the three years since 1999, O'Sullivan has to look well beyond the arrival of O'Grady. The problems were running deep, including the issues that had led to the strike action late last year.

"Well what can you say. Were players over-confident? If you look at the results though, two years ago Limerick beat us by a point and if we'd have won that game we could have progressed a lot further.

"But we were also a very young team . . . It's been hard, and we feel we've been on the outside for the last few years. But I think we're well on the way to redemption."

A win over Kilkenny on Sunday would make that redemption complete. "They had a good win last year. And you'd like to think Kilkenny are under more pressure, but their lads have been around the block a few times.

"But our best performance this year was definitely the second half against Waterford. There was a lot of pressure on us, and the chips were down, and I think the hurling we played that day was fantastic. If we could repeat that again it would be hurling very hard to stop."