ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL:GOING INTO last month's All-Ireland semi-final Colm Cooper hadn't been having one of his more conspicuous years. He wasn't playing badly but when you're modern football's most decorated forward it takes more that quiet efficiency to generate plaudits.

As captain this year he’s in the slightly anxious tradition of iconic captains, big performers for the county whose turn to lead the team comes around. Darragh Ó Sé in 2002 and Jack O’Shea in 1983 both took on the role only for the county surprisingly not to win the All-Ireland.

He is in that exalted category. One of the few Kerry concessions to sentimentality is the desire to reward their greatest players with the captaincy of teams that bring home Sam Maguire. One former player noted that sales for this year’s golf classic fund raiser have been astronomical given the state of the economy, a rush he attributes to the goodwill directed towards this year’s captain.

One characteristic of Cooper, however, is the ability to access transcendent form as soon as he’s in Croke Park. The Mayo match four weeks ago was no exception. After a sterile first half marked by over-reliance on the tactic of route-one delivery to Kieran Donaghy, the captain began to vary the game plan with a more intricate approach.

Whereas Cooper is best known for his ability to find space, drift past opponents and finish he has also been used in the half forwards as an orchestrator of attacks. His club, Dr Crokes, have deployed him in that capacity and at times he fulfils the role for the county.

A natural predator, he has always subscribed to the primacy of the team and can be relied on to pick out a better-placed colleague rather than succumb to tunnel vision.

“Definitely I felt that there was more in me but I didn’t at any stage feel that my performance was bad,” is his assessment of the season to date.

“The first day against Tipperary was fine, a solid enough performance. Solid against Limerick the following day. Cork, a quieter game and probably didn’t get on enough of the ball as I would have wanted. The Limerick game then was the kind of a game where it was over a long way out.

“I never felt that my form was poor but certainly against Mayo – and in August and September, you really need to be razor sharp – you feel your game coming together and I just hope now that there is another one in there.”

He scored 1-3 from play on the day, the highlight a wonderful goal that showcased his range of talents.

Although Cooper’s not small, neither is he very big but his ability to time a jump and claim the ball is remarkable. In the 2007 All-Ireland final when rising to a ball with a posse of Cork defenders and unsighted, he explained he had heard goalkeeper Alan Quirke coming off the line and knew the goal was unguarded before getting the vital, goal-scoring touch.

Against Mayo he went up in similar circumstances but this time caught the ball, protected possession and came to ground. To escape the cover he ran away from goal and considered the options.

Many forwards – and perhaps even he himself against different opponents – would have regarded an over the-shoulder point a good outcome but Cooper sensed the weakness and turned the chasing defender Tom Cunniffe.

He has such perfect balance and physical control that he can lose less nimble markers in a split second. Once returning towards goal, he could see an inviting target as space opened up and the finish was perfect. Game, set and match.

For all of the hard work, unselfishness and vision, that is what Colm Cooper is expected to do: open up defences in the least promising situations and conjure scores. He acknowledges the expectation.

“When you go out and kick 1-5 or 1-7, and do with it with any regularity, then that’s what you’re going to be expected to do in every game.

“I have set the bar pretty high over the last couple of years and if you don’t reach those standards then people start asking questions. That’s the nature of the human being, especially in a county like Kerry where you are only as good as your last game.”

Club: Dr Croke's.

All-Ireland SFC: 2004, '06, '07 '09.

NFL: 2004, '06 '09

All Star: 2002, '04, '05, '07, '08 '10.

Texaco Footballer of the Year: 2004.