Colm Cooper: The icon at 13 is no more. Long live the king

For 15 years Colm Cooper represented everything that we love about traditional Kerry football. Our game will be a poorer one for his absence, writes Mike Quirke

Many years ago, on one of our earliest training camps in Portugal, we used to be allowed a few beers on the last night to unwind after a hard week under the scalding sun. On this particular trip, we had flown into Lisbon instead of the nearby Faro for some reason and were taken on the three-and-a-half-hour journey by bus to our training base in Browns in Vilamoura.

Our few beers that night turned into serious fun. The type of night out with just each other for company that really bonds a team. Most of the group saw no bed, instead deciding that we might as well stay going until we had to make the mammoth bus trip back Lisbon to catch our early morning flight. Eventually, we all made our way back to put some shape on packing a bag just before were due to go.