Colm Cooper’s injury could be just the thing to give Kerry a chance against Dublin

With 16 minutes to go in the Allianz League final Kerry were trailing Dublin by a point.

Aidan O’Mahony had been sent off nine minutes earlier but the Kingdom were managing to stay with their four-in-a-row chasing opponents.

Less than 20 minutes later Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s side were absorbing an 11-point defeat, late goals from Paul Flynn and Eric Lowndes putting a gloss on the scoreline but not even the most ardent Kerry supporter could deny that the gulf between Dublin and their greatest rivals has shown no sign of closing since last year’s All-Ireland final.

Since winning 12-9 on that rain-drenched September Sunday, Dublin had lost footballer of the year Jack McCaffrey and All-Star full-back Rory O’Carroll, but Jim Gavin’s replacements – including the goal-scoring Lowndes – picked up where the 2015 winners left off.

After their stroll through Leinster, Dublin are now 25 League and Championship games unbeaten. If the quarter-finals go with form they will meet Kerry once more in the semi-finals – looking to chalk up an unprecedented fourth straight Championship win over the Green and Gold. Considering Kerry had won the previous eight that is some reversal in fortune.

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Colm Cooper was there for Kerry’s last three wins, but has also been on the field for those defeats in the 2011 final, 2013 semi-final and last year’s decider – where he spent much of the second half tracking Philly McMahon’s forays up the field.

The great man looked old that day. Too many of that Kerry team looked old, as they did in the League final. Winning two Munster championship matches by an average of 11 points in not the elixir of youth – this Kerry team is still ageing in vital areas. Maybe not enough to be unduly troubled by Clare in Croke Park this Sunday, but by the time Dublin presumably roll around on August 28th they are all going to be a month older.

Cooper will miss Sunday’s quarter-final with a history-making Clare side as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury suffered during the Munster final win over Tipperary.

The Dr Crokes man’s absence should provide Fitzmaurice with the opportunity to play against Clare the forward line that can trouble Dublin in the last four.

Paul Geaney is the Kingdom’s top-scorer with 2-8 (2-7 from play). The Dingle forward, enjoying a good run of fitness, has been a revelation to date – his speed and goal-finishing making him one of the scariest inside forwards in the game.

Against Tipperary he was joined by Stephen O’Brien (1-6 to date) and Darran O’Sullivan (0-3). However the return to fitness of 2014 Footballer of the Year James O’Donoghue paves the way for the speedy O’Sullivan to move out to the half-forward line, alongside Donnchadh Walsh and converted defender Paul Murphy.

Murphy could be returned to a defence that badly needs him if and when Johnny Buckley recovers from his training ground collision with his friend Peter Crowley.

A half-forward line of the powerful and combative Buckley, speedy O’Sullivan and back-tracking, counter-attacking Donnchadh Walsh would provide Kerry with the half-forward line to trouble a Dublin half-back line that has lost the speed on the flanks of McCaffrey and the injured James McCarthy.

O’Sullivan’s pace would keep Dublin’s centre-back Cian O’Sullivan far more preoccupied than the more static Cooper – even if Dublin’s version of a sweeper, O’Sullivan, is far less likely to burst forward a la McMahon in last year’s final.