Jonny Cooper slowly adjusting to life outside Dublin’s inner circle

Jonny Cooper is not sure how fandom will sit with him, because adjusting to life as an ex-Dublin footballer is a work in progress.

“I’ve never had the experience, so I’ll let you know when I’m there,” he says.

“Being in the stands I’d imagine will be very different in terms of what I’d be seeing versus what everybody else would be seeing. I’m looking forward to it, supporting them, but at the same time I don’t know if I’ll be able to morph that quickly.”

Cooper announced his retirement in December, the 33-year-old walking away after a glittering career with seven All-Ireland medals.

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In the fairytale ending he would have remained a vital defensive cog in the team this season as Dublin set about avenging last year’s defeat to Kerry. But within himself, Cooper knew his time tangled up in blue was reaching its endgame.

“I always had an internal commitment to myself that getting to last year’s standard is obviously one marker, but personally I always had an internal commitment to get that 15 per cent more,” he adds.

“I’d say for everyone it’s different. You heard Michael Murphy and a few of them talk about energy, I don’t know exactly Lee Keegan’s reason, I think everyone is different.

“For me, it was purely can I get to not only the level I expected in 2022 but kick on, so it was a very clear-cut decision for me that I couldn’t get to that level.

“That 15 per cent more, physically, mentally, leadership role modelling, behaviour, all the extracurricular, analysis, all that sort of stuff? When you put it all into the pot, can you get there? And the answer was no for me.”

The last decade was a hugely progressive one for Cooper, on and off the field, but it was not a period without its challenges. In 2014 he was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Dublin. Understandably, it was an incident that had a deep impact on him and even now there remain touchpoints that remind him of the attack.

“There are several marks, once I touch my head here there’s a buzz in my head that goes off,” he says. “There are several on the back of my neck.”

And yet in his analysis of how it all might have turned out differently, or indeed not happened at all, he points to his own preparation that season with Dublin.

“I was in that situation because I played poorly, and I played poorly because I had poor preparation against Donegal that year, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out that night,” he reflects.

“The personal learning for me was that if I prepared for a couple of days, or a couple of weeks, a lot better than what I did . . . I got ahead of myself, complacency, ego, all this sort of stuff kicks in.

“So there was a massive learning from many different respects, but just to appreciate building and I guess trying to influence things. I’m gone now, the sun has kind of dipped on my career but when you’re in the sunshine, [you try] to make hay.”

When he assesses the landscape of the 2023 season, he can see Dublin being among the contenders but it’s no harm to put Kerry up at the top of the hill.

“It seems to be an even enough championship in terms of the quality that’s out there but obviously Kerry have that target on their back now and probably deservedly so will be first in line I’d imagine,” he says.

Whatever way his transition from player to supporter works out, he already knows that he will miss not being in the Dublin dressingroom. It wasn’t only a place where ridiculous amounts of medals were collected, it was also a place from which he gathered friends for life.

“I miss everything if I’m being honest,” says Cooper. “You miss the lads, the deep relationships and connections, friendships and bonds.

“They’ve seen me at my worst, I’ve seen them at their worst and, conversely, at your best in lots of ways so those cherished profound experiences that you know you would have gone through.

“Even when you see them locally, you’re friends and so on, but you’re outside the circle and that has been, and is currently, difficult. It’s certainly the right call but at the same time I certainly miss the guys, there’s a massive connection and a care there which will outlast all of us in terms of playing careers.”

Jonny Cooper, a Sigerson Cup winner with DCU, was speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup Final between UL and UCC