Cooper and Ó hÁilpín tops

COLM COOPER is the next best player to Kerry great Maurice Fitzgerald in terms of his elusive style and kicking ability.

That’s the opinion Sean Óg Ó hÁilpin offered in Dublin yesterday where the pair were honoured as the Vodafone GAA ‘Players of the Month’ for September after the respective All-Ireland victories of Kerry and Cork.

Cooper, in turn, praised the Cork dual star as ‘a super athlete.’

While Ó hAilpin helped his club qualify for the county hurling final and then celebrated his inclusion in the Irish squad for the International Rules Series, Cooper was not so lucky.

Cooper said that if the Irish management didn’t need his services, he wasn’t going to roll over and cry. “If it happened it happened, that was the way I looked at it. I’m not overly disappointed to be honest,” he said.