“You were always kept on your toes…”
It wouldn’t have taken a genius to point that out but when a man like Ryan McMenamin says it, it means a little more.
The Tyrone defender never seemed to be rattled by anything or anyone but when the Gooch came to town, he had to work harder and faster to earn his corn.
The pair locked horns in some brilliant battles down through the years as the Tyrone and Kerry rivalry unfolded in gladiatorial fashion.
Tyrone would win an All-Ireland, then Kerry would, then Tyrone, then Kerry would. That’s how the decade past went and, similarly in iconic showdowns, Cooper would win a ball, then Ricey would, then Cooper would.
It was always blow for blow with those two great players and those two great teams but McMenamin sounds like he’s still catching his breath.
“From when I first marked him in 2003, I think every time I marked him after, he continually got better,” the Tyrone legend said on The GAA Hour.
“His movement at the start was probably more straight lines but, within a year, his movement had taken off and his appreciation of the space. But what probably made him more dangerous was that he was happy enough too to create space for other forwards.
“It was just tough work.”
But what was the toughest part of all that work?
“What stood him apart – the same with Stevie [McDonnell] as well – was probably his ability to win his own ball and then being able to turn off his right or left foot,” Ricey explained.
“As a defender, if you knew he could use his right or left, you kind of had to step off and give him that half yard because you didn’t want to be turned but he probably turned me inside-out a couple of times.
“He was surprisingly tough. People might’ve looked at him and thought you could lay into him or whatever – or hit him hard and there’s not going to be much to him – but he was able to take the hits and he was able to roll with them.
“He did what every good forward does, he got stuck in. He wasn’t afraid to go for the 30-70 balls that the defender was favourite to win. More importantly, he was able to create for other players. He could roam out the field and pick a pass.
“He was one of them few forwards who could score 2-6 but set up 1-3 as well. It was hard to mark.”
A warrior waxing lyrical about an enemy who’s too often remembered as just silky and elegant. Yes, he was all those things but Gooch was hard as nails too and McMenamin knows that well.
And it wasn’t like the Tyrone man was the only person able to hand out a few verbals.
“If he scored a lock of points on me, he was fit to tell me that he scored a lock of points,” Ricey laughed.
“I think he scored a goal against us to put them into the lead in the last five minutes down in Killarney and he was straight up into my face and he was roaring.”
Listen to the full brilliant interview below (from 11:30).
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