Even after those dog days, enduring magic of Gooch and O’Shea remains

Before they all gathered for lunch in the Dromhall Hotel yesterday to move on from the All-Ireland final evisceration by Corofin in Croke Park, a handful of Dr Crokes players and stalwarts happened upon company in the clubhouse on Lewis Road.

Above the hallways and landings decorated with framed mementoes of pioneers and revered founding fathers like Dr Eamon O’Sullivan, Small Jer O’Leary and Dick Fitzgerald, some of the club’s most influential present-day figures conceded in a wordless way that the road to redemption could be without Pat O’Shea, their guiding light, and Colm Cooper, the footballing figurehead. Given the breadth of their respective influence on the club, the