By John Harrington

Long-serving Kerry footballer Colm Cooper says he has not decided yet whether he will play for the Kingdom again in 2017 or retire from inter-county football.

The 33-year-old made his senior inter-county debut in 2002 and has been one of the best forwards in the country ever since, winning five All-Ireland titles.

There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks about whether or not he’ll be back in the Kerry jersey next year, but Cooper insisted yesterday he has yet to make a decision either way.

“I heard on the Friday night before the All-Ireland that I was definitely staying on,” said Cooper. “And I heard last Tuesday night, when I finished Crokes training, that I was retired. There were quite a few notifications on Twitter.

“To be honest, I haven’t made any decision on it, and I won’t make any rash decision. When we lost to Dublin, there was huge disappointment, and I just wanted to get back into the Croke’s scene, back playing. That’s where the enjoyment comes from.

“Whenever the Crokes thing finishes up then I need to take a look at the overall picture. How’s the body, the enjoyment, the hunger, and then hopefully make the right decision. But when you’re immersed in the middle of a championship it’s hard to do that.

“It will be a sad day whenever it comes, next year or two years, but right now I don’t know.”

Cooper has already had a post-season debrief with Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice but they didn’t discuss whether he would be back in the county colours next year.

“I’ve just had a chat with Éamonn over the phone,” said Cooper. “I had a very brief discussion with him a couple of weeks ago. He was just checking in to see how the body was going into the county championship matches and things like that.

“There was no big discussion about staying on. We kind of left it. I think he just wanted to give me a bit of space to go out and enjoy my county championship football.

“When is that chat going to happen? Probably after the championship or when Crokes exit the championship but it will certainly be in the coming weeks. I think he just wants to give fellas a bit of space because you could rush things and then make a rash decision be it right or wrong.”

Even if Cooper decides to stay on for another year, it’s possible that a couple of other Kerry legends could soon announce their retirement from the inter-county scene. Marc Ó Sé and Aidan O’Mahony are both 36 now, and have given a combined 31 years of sterling service to the Kerry county team.

“Yeah, they’re the obvious candidates based on age,” said Cooper. “To be honest, I haven’t been talking to them. It’s funny – you’re training with them four or five nights a week and then you go back to your clubs and you cease contact in many ways because you could be playing against each other in county championship matches and things like that.

“I haven’t talked to the guys individually. It’s a big decision for them. Once you go into your 30s, it gets harder. They’re in their mid-30s now. Can they find a hunger and a desire to go again? Does their body feel up to it?

“Only they can answer that question and to be honest I think it’s a very private thing and I don’t ask players too much about it. They may have already had a chat with Éamonn to see what the future looks like for them. I’m sure we’ll hear in the coming weeks and months what their decision is.”

Cooper missed the 2014 All-Ireland winning campaign for Kerry because of a ruptured cruciate ligament and last year it took him some time to get back up to speed.

He was looking more like his old self this year until a shoulder injury in the Munster Final interrupted his championship campaign and kept him out of the team until the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin. Despite that set-back, he still feels he performed to a higher standard this year than he did in 2015.

“I took a knock on the shoulder, banged it on the ground, in the Munster final. That was disappointing because the league had gone well, otherwise.

“I think I’d played six league games, and hadn’t played that many in a long time, and felt I was building. The in the middle of the summer I was caught for three weeks, no able to do a whole lot. But when I look back on the season, I was far happier than the year before. And I enjoyed it a lot more.

“It didn’t finish the way we wanted it to finish, but it was more enjoyable for me, and I found it hard the year before, to regain the form. This year the knee didn’t react in any way, so that’s the positive. The hunger was there and continues to be there with the club, so we’ll see what happens.”

Whether players like Cooper, Ó Sé, and O’Mahony decide to stay or go before the end of the year, a changing of the guard in this Kerry team seems inevitable in the very near future.

Three All-Ireland minor titles in a row is a testament to the young talent emerging in the county, and it’s only a matter of time before they start making their mark as senior inter-county footballers.

“Clear us out! Of course that is just natural evolution and that is for the betterment of everyone, the team, the players, the tradition,” said Cooper.

“That is what we want. We waited 20 years for Kerry to win a minor title and now they have won three in a row, and by all accounts, there is a good team there next year again. There is probably going to be a changing of the guard.

“We had an amazing group of players that represented Kerry through the 2000s and now they are handing on the baton to the next group of players to create their own history and tradition and that is just the way it works in Kerry.

“You hold the jersey for a while and someone else comes along and takes it. Kerry was fine before we ever came along and it will be fine after we move on.”

The fear in the Kingdom though is that some of their most talented young players will end up playing in the AFL rather than realising their potential as Kerry footballers.

2015 All-Ireland winning minor captain Mark O’Connor recently went to Melbourne for two weeks to trial for a number of clubs there and also impressed at the NAB AFL Draft Combine. He has said himself that playing professionally in the AFL is something he wants to do, and Cooper admits it would be a blow for Kerry to lose the 19-year-old.

“He would be a big loss. From the brief time I worked with him this year, he is an extremely grounded and level-headed guy for someone at 18 years of age and being talked about as one of the best minors in the country, he has really impressed me.

“He is a midfielder that can go and catch a ball, he hasn’t developed as much as a David Moran or Anthony Maher or Bryan Sheehan, physically at the moment, but when he does that, how impressive he is going to be. And he is a potential leader for Kerry down the line and you don’t want to give away those lads too easily. If he does decide to stay in Australia, it will be at Kerry’s expense and it will be Kerry’s loss for sure.”

It seems only a matter of time too before the AFL clubs also start hovering over another prodigious young talent, David Clifford, who lit up the All-Ireland minor Championship this year.

Strong, fast, skilful, and a devastating finisher, there’s a bigger buzz around Clifford than any young Kerry footballer since when Cooper himself first burst on the scene.

“It’s only natural the AFL clubs would come in for Ireland's top player and he’s proven that in the colleges final and the minor final and he’s a minor again next year,” said Cooper.

“It's going to be difficult to hold on to him but what I do know is that he's from a massive GAA background, massive GAA family. I don’t know what his intentions are. I would imagine play for the Kerry minors and look for more success next year but he's playing for Fossa, a club just outside Killarney. They'll take good care of him.

“The expectation is going to be difficult for him to manage and for all his coaches to manage because he has set a high benchmark.

“You say he's a bit like me when I was younger, I certainly wasn't six foot like he is. He could be anything. The future is so bright for him.

“But as we know that has been the case for so many great young players coming through and it doesn't always work out for them. He'll be protected but he's a player and you need to play all the time. I've full faith that he will get that backing from his family and from his club. He's a treasured asset and he'll take good care of him.”

It would surely be a win-win scenario for Kerry supporters if they could hold onto young players like O’Connor and Clifford and also get another year or two out of Cooper.

He admits the second scenario might be more likely if he helps Dr. Crokes defeat Kenmare district in Sunday’s Kerry County Final and goes on to perform well for them in the Munster club campaign and possibly beyond.

“If you are playing and winning, you are obviously in a better place,” said Cooper. “When you are making decisions like that, you have to take emotion out of it and think of the bigger picture.

“If Crokes win Sunday, you will be saying on Sunday evening sure I will give it another year, Kerry will win the All-Ireland.That is fairy-tale stuff.

“I am around long enough now to look at the overall picture and you could get carried away with that sort of stuff but I think with the experience I have gained over the last number of years, you have to look at the overall picture and that would be important.”

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