Jonny Cooper pictured at the launch of the Bord Na Mona Leinster GAA Series.
By Cian O'Connell
Medals and memories have been accumulated by a dynamic Dublin team during the past decade so Jonny Cooper is looking forward to resuming collective training soon.
That is just the way it is for Cooper, who acknowledges that Dublin's players will relish getting back to action in the Spring.
"The first couple of weeks after the All-Ireland is just whatever's coming up – be it a social event or a night out or family," Cooper says about the schedule following an All Ireland triumph.
"You just kind of eat whatever you want. That's probably the first five-six weeks for me. And then the second period, you're starting to get sick of that stuff."
Ultimately it means Cooper has already recommenced his own preparations for the challenges which await. "So a week (now) has probably a couple of spinning classes, things like that, just trying to get something back into the legs," Cooper admits.
"But you do miss it after a couple of weeks. The lads were saying at the medal (presentation) recently, after a couple of weeks you miss the camaraderie and being together and all that. Just the way it pans out, you don't see a lot of them."
An injury early in the 2017 Allianz Football League hampered Cooper. "Yeah, I got injured and it didn't really – as a season as a whole – work out too great for me," Cooper remarks.
"I was probably chasing my tail a lot, certainly from the League into the next period and then I missed the Club Championship as well. That was more of a rehab period.
"So I was chasing my tail, personally, but at the same time I thought the structure was right."
Worries exist even for accomplished and established performers such as Cooper.
Dublin footballer Jonny Cooper.
"Other people come into the team; you start to look over your shoulder a little bit harder than if you had the jersey or you played a couple of games to get a bit of confidence," Cooper acknowledges.
"A bit of everything – a bit of fitness, a bit of confidence, a bit of who's coming next? Does he want to play me, is he looking at someone else? That comes into the equation when you get injured - your monkey on the shoulder."
Being primed for the significant summer challenges with a slightly altered return to training appeared to benefit Dublin in 2017. "It's more for Jim and the lads to design," Cooper adds.
"We'd probably play every week if we could, and they're trying to rein us back and pull us in, probably with that in mind, to try and peak – whether it's the first Championship game or maybe potentially later on in the summer.
"Yeah, it seems to be coming into it more and more. The first couple of weeks, you probably lose the first couple of weeks trying to get up to speed. Maybe the sacrifice is that for later on, but it's a balancing act.
"Whether it was by chance or by design – probably by design – the way it was fixed that we started a little bit later.
"So although we had a little bit of hardship trying to get up to the speed of it the first couple of weeks that was probably the main downfall.
"And then as you mentioned the club, that was the best thing – just under six weeks, I think, back with the lads.
"Now, we didn't win, we lost, but the point is we were back there for six weeks and then you had that fresh mindset going back into the May/June period. Personally I thought it worked very well from a Dublin point of view."
