He could’ve played into his 40s

ÉAMONN FITZMAURICE believes Colm Cooper could have played until he was 40, such was his footballing intelligence.

The Kerry manager revealed he had three faceto-face meetings with Cooper in recent weeks, in an effort to convince him to play on. But it all fell on deaf ears.

‘Funnily enough, I always figured that he could have kept playing until he was 40 because he never relied on the physical side of the game,’ Fitzmaurice explained.

‘It was his brain and his decision-making, he was always a step ahead from that point of view. But he had injuries and setbacks in the past couple of years.’

However, Fitzmaurice did press the case of Cooper remaining for another year. ‘It was discussed and discussed to death.

‘But with this decision, for a player that has been there that long, it is diffierent than trying to convince a fella who is 27 or 28 to keep going. He has been there that long and loved it so much and he enjoyed it so much, that it wasn’t a decision that he was going to make lightly. But it was the right decision for him to make for himself, if not for us and Kerry.’