*Clare corner forward, Gavin Cooney. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Fresh from the minor ranks, Gavin Cooney was recruited onto the Clare senior panel by Colm Collins to make his debut in 2018, now off the back of their condensed League bid he finds himself as a go-to choice at corner forward in the side.
To earn the number thirteen jersey, he will have to fight off competition from Keelan Sexton, Podge Collins, Aaron Griffin and Joe McGann but it’s a battle that Cooney has the edge in given his impressive performances during the Allianz National Football League.
2021 marked the first time since Gavin joined the senior panel that he started all games in the competition. He would also contribute on the scoreboard with a return of 1-03 in four games, the goal helping to bring to life Clare’s comeback bid against Mayo.
In the past month, he became a member of Dromoland Golf Club, sub-goalkeeper Tom O’Brien is pinpointed by the Éire Óg clubman as the worst golfer on the panel. He has found the sport and the odd walk on the beach to be very helpful in switching off from football.
Securing a starting jersey was an objective from the get-go for the Ennis native when the dust settled on their disappointing 2020 championship. “It was something I set out to do at the start of the lockdown, it gave me time to reflect and see what I was doing wrong and what could be improved. My main aim was to get a starting jersey for the first game of the league, thankfully it all went well and I’ve managed to keep it for the whole league campaign, hopefully I can keep doing the same”.
This feat is all the more impressive given the calibre of players available to Colm Collins on the sideline. “The competition this year is probably the hardest year to have made the starting team with the players coming through and putting up their hand, the strength in depth is evident to see. You can with the lads coming on off the bench, they are all making it stronger than the players coming off so it is very good to see”.
Personal targets were also earmarked by the LIT business student. “When I first went in back in 2018, I was one of the smallest in the country playing senior, I identified in December after last year’s championship finished that it was an area I could improve. In fairness we have one of the best S&Cs in the country in Rob Mulcahy, he gave me a programme and I stuck to it, I managed to build up a bit of strength which I feel is helping me greatly in the league campaign just gone, it allowed me to win my own ball a bit easier than what it was, a lot of that is down to Rob”.
“I wasn’t the best for the dieting in years gone by, I’ve really bought into it this year and in fairness I can’t complain with how it has gone, I can see myself and Rob is telling me there is a big difference. The dieting is the biggest change and trying to lift as heavy as I can. Besides the strength I’ve put a bit of work into my weak foot, my right foot and being able to shoot off both feet allows you to put an extra doubt in the defender’s mind, I’m working with arguably one of the best forwards in the country in David Tubridy, I’ve been asking him for tips and seeing him stroke the ball over with his left and right really gives you a drive and motivation to be able to do the same. Getting my right foot stronger and being more comfortable kicking off that was one of my goals which seems to be working”.
Killarney awaits on Saturday evening, the magnitude of the task is aided by their stern encounter with Mayo less than two weeks ago, Gavin maintained. “You want to keep their forwards as quite as possible, they have six unbelievably talented forwards and trying to keep them quiet if we can do that it will give us a great platform to go and attack them on the other end, it is going to take fifteen men and the five subs that come on, it will take incredible workrate and determination to get over the line”.
“Division 1 is where every footballer wants to be and testing yourself against the best. It was the best test we could have got for the Kerry match was to play Mayo, we saw in the first half when they were really motoring it gave us a taster of what is to come. It is really good to see that we were able to compete with them, we beat them fairly well in the second half which gives us a lot of confidence that we can do it against the best”.
