.
Colm Cooper gets on the ball after his introduction in the second half of the Munster SFC replay against Cork. Photo by Dermot Crean.
COLM COOPER made a timely intervention in Saturday night’s Munster SFC final replay against Cork.
It was his quick thinking that led to Paul Geaney’s goal, the decisive score of the match to help Kerry towards the quarters finals and avoidance of a rocky qualifier road.
Relegated to the bench for both Cork encounters, many followers would have hoped at the start of the year by now ‘The Gooch’ would be back in business.
As the man admits himself, speaking to The 42 website , the road to recovery from an ACL injury is a long one for a 31-year-old.
“It is frustrating but a lot less frustrating than this time last year. You are looking to break into an All-Ireland winning team. Regardless of what you have done in the past it doesn’t count for anything so I’m just plugging away,” said Cooper.
“Maybe things don’t come as easy as they once did, that you have to work that little bit harder for them and that’s fine,” he said.
“Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself that I was away from the game for so long with a serious injury. I need to reach a certain level to make sure I’m in this Kerry team and playing my part.”
For a decade, The Gooch, was the focal point of the Kerry team. Now the four time All-Ireland winner finds himself challenging for a place in the starting 15, when once it was almost guaranteed.
“I feel I have to fight for it. There are 30 other guys who feel they should be there. I want to play, no doubt about that.”
“I don’t make decisions. To be fair to Eamonn he has made changes when he has needed to and he has been very successful on the back of that last year. You can’t question him.”
“Heading for Croke Park now, one of my favourite venues, that’s a step definitely in the right direction.”
