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6th April 2017
11:33am BST

"It gets to a stage where you just have to appreciate sportsmen at their best and when they're performing under pressure," ROG said on SportsJOE Live. "Any time he was in Croke Park, you just knew you were in for a good afternoon of watching a genius at work. "He's a Kerry footballer and I obviously follow Cork football but they were a great team. There were a lot of leaders on that team and he was one of them."https://twitter.com/jheslin14/status/849290869610086402 Just like O'Gara, Cooper was a man who transcended rivalries. People far and wide respected his feats and talents and they all wanted to be like him. The best are role models for the best.
"His ease with a football was fascinating to watch," O'Gara said. "Growing up in Cork, you watch all the GAA games and he was to the fore for such a long period of time. The guy was a genius with a football. "You wouldn't see that very often because sometimes GAA matches can be very boring but when he hit Croke Park, he had the capacity on his own to light the place up."And he did it for a decade and a half.
"The words don't really do that justice either, when you actually think about what goes into that [staying at the top for 15 years] or to understand what was involved: his preparation, his professionalism, his dedication, his hunger levels, and the good people he had around him. "He kept producing and it's not easy to produce because he was marked, double-marked, triple-marked but he always found a way to either create space for himself or his team mates."
Even after all that, O'Gara still felt like he hadn't done Cooper enough justice.
"For the last five minutes, I maybe didn't do it justice but we're talking about one of the greatest footballers of all time. I'm trying to be as excited as possible to give the Gooch the credit he deserves," the Cork native explained. "We're not talking about a really good footballer. We're talking about a fella who lit up every living room for 15 years. "A guy who was just incredible with a football and I'm unbelievably excited to get the chance to talk and express what growing up in Cork watching him was like. "He was fantastic."That ought to do it. Watch the full tribute below (from 24:00). It really does do brilliant justice to one of the greatest.
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