Gooch loss means longer odds and shorter season

Strange as it might seem, it’s difficult to be hyperbolic about the impact of Colm Cooper’s injury on Kerry’s 2014 season.

Monumental. Crucifying. Immense. Take your pick of the adjectives and add another one. Or seven.

Forget the retirements of Tomás Ó Sé, Eoin Brosnan and more recently Paul Galvin — the absence of Cooper on its very own is a criminally large burden for any team to bear.