Gaelic games do not allow for that. Each game you win is immediately dwarfed by the game that follows. If you play well in a provincial semi-final, but then don’t perform in the provincial final, it’s nearly worse than if you hadn’t played well in the semi-final in the first place.
By sheer force of personality, they managed to insert themselves into the play in the last 10 minutes Kerry's Seán O'Shea and John Daly of Galway in Sunday's memorable All-Ireland final. Photograph: Inpho By sheer force of personality, they managed to insert themselves into the play in the last 10 minutes: Comer with his magnificent mark to set up Galway’s equaliser with seven minutes of ordinary time left, O’Shea with a couple of late assists in Kerry’s final surge.
With Cooper it wasn’t so much All-Ireland final day, but All-Ireland final days when Kerry were under pressure … as if his effervescent displays in easy All-Ireland final wins weren’t directly responsible for that lack of pressure. And that is why so many people were so happy for Shane Walsh. There was a time in the last decade when it appeared as if he was barely compatible with the game’s direction of travel, which would have been a truly damning indictment. If there wasn’t room for a talent as luminous as Walsh in the sport, was it even a sport worth fighting for?