Cooper out for three months with groin op

KERRY Allstar, Colm Cooper will be out of football for up to three months after undergoing a groin operation yesterday.

The Kingdom corner-forward has been plagued all season with the injury, and went under the knife at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, after consultations with specialist, Gerry McEntee.

Cooper won an Allstar for his thrilling corner forward displays in 2002, but was a pale shadow this season, after missing the early part of the campaign with the groin problem.

The recuperation period for such an operation is around eight weeks, and he may take another month to get match fit.

However, new Kerry coach Jack O'Connor is unlikely to rush the Dr Crokes star back into action too quickly, and Cooper may not appear in the opening stages of next year's Allianz Football League.

O'Connor will be acutely aware that the talented 20-year-old is very young to be experiencing chronic groin problems and will seek to ensure that Cooper is given enough time to make a full recovery before returning to the rigours of winter and spring training.

The new regime in the Kingdom O'Connor with selectors Ger O'Keeffe and Johnny Culloty have already begun training at ISK's all-weather facility in Killorglin.

The operation means Cooper is ruled out of Munster's M.D. Donnelly Inter-provincial Championship semi-final against Connacht on Saturday in Enniskillen. Leinster will meet Ulster in the other semi-final, with the final at the same venue on Sunday.

GAA president Sean Kelly declared the weekend's hurling decider in Rome "an outstanding success" and pledged to travel to another foreign venue with next year's final - possibly in the US, where there is a strong Irish presence and GAA culture.

A decision will be made on that early in the new year to maximise marketing opportunities for the game.