From a Cork man to a Kerry man.
From a rugby man to a football man.
From an Irish legend to an Irish legend.
Ronan O’Gara knows what it takes to make it at the top but, more than that, he knows what it takes to stay there.
For 15 years, he’s watched Colm Cooper with pure admiration. He wasn’t jealous as a Rebel supporter and he sure as hell wasn’t uninterested as a rugby international. He was in awe of what the man they call Gooch could do with a round ball and how he could continue to do it under severe pressure.
A footballing genius bows out. Bravo Gooch. You showed why brains and speed of thought always wins out.
— Ronan O Gara (@RonanOGara10) April 4, 2017
O’Gara grew up, like most sportspeople in Cork do, engrossed in the GAA scene but it didn’t mean he had any less respect for his county’s biggest enemy.
Speaking on the latest SportsJOE Live sponsored by Screwfix.ie, the Irish rugby icon paid Colm Cooper the ultimate tribute.
“It gets to a stage where you just have to appreciate sportsmen at their best and when they’re performing under pressure,” ROG said on SportsJOE Live.
“Any time he was in Croke Park, you just knew you were in for a good afternoon of watching a genius at work.
“He’s a Kerry footballer and I obviously follow Cork football but they were a great team. There were a lot of leaders on that team and he was one of them.”
A true great @colmcooper13 I spent many hours with the ball in the garden pretending I was #TheGooch
— John Heslin (@jheslin14) April 4, 2017
Just like O’Gara, Cooper was a man who transcended rivalries. People far and wide respected his feats and talents and they all wanted to be like him.
The best are role models for the best.
“His ease with a football was fascinating to watch,” O’Gara said.
“Growing up in Cork, you watch all the GAA games and he was to the fore for such a long period of time. The guy was a genius with a football.
“You wouldn’t see that very often because sometimes GAA matches can be very boring but when he hit Croke Park, he had the capacity on his own to light the place up.”
And he did it for a decade and a half.
“The words don’t really do that justice either, when you actually think about what goes into that [staying at the top for 15 years] or to understand what was involved: his preparation, his professionalism, his dedication, his hunger levels, and the good people he had around him.
“He kept producing and it’s not easy to produce because he was marked, double-marked, triple-marked but he always found a way to either create space for himself or his team mates.”
Even after all that, O’Gara still felt like he hadn’t done Cooper enough justice.
“For the last five minutes, I maybe didn’t do it justice but we’re talking about one of the greatest footballers of all time. I’m trying to be as excited as possible to give the Gooch the credit he deserves,” the Cork native explained.
“We’re not talking about a really good footballer. We’re talking about a fella who lit up every living room for 15 years.
“A guy who was just incredible with a football and I’m unbelievably excited to get the chance to talk and express what growing up in Cork watching him was like.
“He was fantastic.”
That ought to do it.
Watch the full tribute below (from 24:00). It really does do brilliant justice to one of the greatest.
