Backroom shifts won’t unsettle Gooch

Colm Cooper has admitted he was surprised by the recent departure of highly-rated coach Donie Buckley from the Kerry setup but insists that it is “an issue for the management”.

However the captain believes the Kingdom have the necessary blend of coaching expertise in their backroom setup as they prepare for their provincial championship opener against Tipperary on Sunday week.

“It caught us by surprise as the players didn’t know much about it until the management told us. But to be fair, that kind of thing is an issue for the management and something for Jack (O’Connor) and the lads to sort out.

“I knew that Donie had problems with his knee which saw him miss a lot of our training earlier in the year. He came back then but it just didn’t work out. He has worked with a huge amount of teams and is obviously very highly rated.

“I found him a very good guy to deal with, very enthusiastic about his football training and a brilliant coach. I’ve been speaking to him over the last week and he will be sadly missed. But we have a wealth of experience in our coaching team. Jack, Ger (O’Keeffe) and Alan (O’Sullivan) have all been involved in the past in managing us to an All-Ireland win while Diarmuid (Murphy) has a huge amount of knowledge of winning All-Irelands as a player. I don’t think we’re going to be lacking in that department as we’ve a lot of very good and experienced guys involved with us.”

Cooper has revealed that he feels refreshed ahead of the start of the 2012 championship season and will benefit from the break he took from football after Dr Crokes’ All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final loss to Crossmaglen Rangers in February.

Cooper believes he needed to take time out to recharge mentally after that defeat.

“At the time I felt physically fine. But to put in so much effort into something, as I’ve done with Dr Crokes and Kerry over the last few years, you need to step back at some stage. I felt the benefit would be seen later in the year if I took some time out during the spring and sat out a few league games. Mentally I felt I needed to recharge the batteries. Professional sports people cannot keep going at a top level the whole time, let alone amateur players. As the league went on, I started to miss it more and more with Kerry. So I was delighted to get back on board and I’m raring to go now with Kerry. It’s been good to play football with the club as well.

“We’ve a new management with Dr Crokes this year and it was great to win the club championship in Kerry recently as well.”

The form guides may suggest that Kerry are on course for a Munster semi-final showdown with old rivals Cork on June 10 yet Cooper is adamant that they are treating their opponents on Sunday week with respect.

“It’d be very silly for us to look past Tipperary. Their minors and U21 sides have done very well over the last few years which proves there is underage talent coming through in the county. With their hurlers playing as well on the day, I think Tipperary will have a big crowd behind them in Semple Stadium. I know we’re going to be going in as big favourites but we’re not taking them for granted.