Colm Cooper made his Kerry debut in 2002.
Over the course of 15 years, the Gooch scored 23 goals and 283 points in Championship as Kerry won five All-Irelands and nine Munster titles.
We'll take that https://t.co/FC6UkgrMnN
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 4, 2017
On Tuesday morning he announced his retirement from the intercounty game but confirmed he will play on for Dr Crokes, with whom he won an AIB club All-Ireland title on St Patrick’s Day.
That completed his set of senior medals, leaving the 33-year-old with one glaring absence from his mantlepiece – a Footballer of the Year award.
Without doubt one of the most skilful players of his or any generation – a footballer of vision, guile and accuracy – it is one of those weird quirks of modern GAA that he was never recognised as the outstanding footballer of a given season.
Since 2002, 15 different men have won the award, including five of his Kerry team-mates – each of whom would worship at the altar of Gooch.
It’s a funny old game.
2002 – Kieran McGeeney (Armagh)
2003 – Stevie McDonnell (Armagh)
2004 – Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry)
2005 – Stephen O’Neill (Tyrone)
2006 – Kieran Donaghy (Kerry)
2007 – Marc Ó Sé (Kerry)
2008 – Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
2009 – Paul Galvin (Kerry)
2010 – Bernard Brogan (Dublin)
2011 – Alan Brogan (Dublin)
2012 – Karl Lacey (Donegal)
2013 – Michael Darragh MacAuley (Dublin)
2014 – James O’Donoghue (Kerry)
2015 – Jack McCaffrey (Dublin)
2016 – Lee Keegan (May0)
