Cooper to retain Kerry captaincy

Colm Cooper is to be given another chance to lead Kerry to All-Ireland glory.

The Gooch will be nominated by Dr Crokes, who retained the Kerry senior championship crown with a comfortable victory over Mid Kerry last Sunday week, ahead of Eoin Brosnan, Kieran O’Leary, Johnny Buckley and Daithí Casey.

Club chairman Vincent Casey confirmed last night the five county panellists met during the week to discuss the captaincy issue and the experienced corner-forward was the unanimous choice for the role.

The nomination has to be ratified by the Dr Crokes executive before the formality of being rubber-stamped by county board officials.

"We’re delighted to nominate Colm because he has been an inspirational leader for Dr Crokes and for Kerry. Hopefully, he can go one better nest September," Casey said.

Cooper has won four All-Ireland senior medals and seven All Star awards but was gutted to lose out on lifting the Sam Maguire when Dublin staged a late comeback to deny Kerry in September.

Copper has been hampered by an ankle injury since the All-Ireland final and will need surgery to rectify the niggling problem ruling him out of the county’s league campaign.

Meanwhile, Eoin Brosnan has committed himself to Kerry for another championship campaign. The former centre-forward had retired in 2008 before being persuaded to return by team boss Jack O’Connor and he played a starring role at centre-back in this year’s championship.