And he’s not done yet.
In three years, Sean Mullooly has come a long way.
The Strokestown defender is only 21 and is not done with his physical development but, right now, he looks some specimen. He has taken the best that Leitrim, Galway and Mayo could throw at him and has emerged with a reputation as a fierce operator.
On a rain-sodden Sunday at Croke Park, Mullooly was tasked with stifling a man who so often in recent years has been the heart, soul and engine of Mayo football – Aidan O’Shea.
On the GAA Hour Football Show, host Colm Parkinson declared:
“O’Shea looked dead on his feet. Mullooly completely put him in his pocket.
“He was completely on top of him and O’Shea’s lack of pace was evident in a couple of 50/50 balls they were going for. Mullooly was getting in behind him and getting the fist away.”
Well done to Sean Mullooly and Fintan Cregg who made this week's GAA team of the week. #rosgaa #gaa pic.twitter.com/NjnfDo5pp4
— Roscommon GAA (@RoscommonGAA) July 31, 2017
Mullooly was rattled by Cillian O’Connor, no doubt, but the Mayo sharpshooter’s hit was a grim one and many were calling for him to be sent off.
That sort have hit may have done for Mullooly in the past but he is an impressively built, mobile, dogged defender now. He looked like one to watch in his Chamionship debut against New York last summer and, in 2017, returned with even more timber to his frame.
Mullooly pitches in with his family’s drystock farming enterprise when he is not studying Animal Science at UCD and even more now on the summer break from college. It is clear that he has been putting in the work on the training pitch and gym.
In 2013 [as a Roscommon Minor] and 2014 [Under 21], Mullooly got a taste of the action against some of the country’s up and comers. At six-foot-one, the frame was there but he only weighed around 75kg [just under 12-stone].
There were obvious signs of physical progress in 2016, as a member of the senior panel, but most mortals won’t measure up to Damien Comer…
One look of Mullooly at Croke Park last Sunday, or at any stage of the 2017 Championship, and it is clear how much his has come on over the past few years.
Maintaining that explosive speed, nimble footwork and ability to shift through the gears is still a necessity but the fact that Mullooly is now more than holding hos own against the Comers and O’Sheas of this world is really saying something.
Next Monday, though, is time to stand up again.
Roscommon are not ready to end their summer on a Bank Holiday Monday in Dublin. They have won Connacht but greater prizes and scalps await. In Mullooly, the have a man who is perfectly primed to help.
