This is an accepted version of this page Colm "the Gooch" Cooper (born 3 June 1983) is an Irish Gaelic footballer whose league and championship career at senior level with the Kerry county team spanned fifteen years from 2002 to 2017.

His father, Mike Cooper, had a strong involvement with the Dr Crokes club, serving as a minor and junior selector.

Colm's nephew Mark was a part of the 2018 All Ireland winning Kerry Minor team, a competition he himself never won.

Cooper made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he was selected for the Kerry minor team in 2000.

Cooper was first selected for the Ireland international rules football team in 2005, however, he declined to be included on subsequent squads for the competition.

[8][9][10] Cooper helped Dr Crokes win the 2000 Kerry Senior Football Championship at the age of 17, beating An Ghaeltacht in the final.

Dr Crokes reached the Kerry Senior county final again in 2005 and 2006, but were defeated on both occasions by South Kingdom.

In February 2014, Cooper suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in the All-Ireland Club Championship semi-final against Castlebar Mitchels which kept him out of action for the remainder of 2014.

[12][13] Cooper was first called up to the Kingdom team in 2002 and made his National Football League debut against Laois.

He continued his rise in that year's Championship, making his debut against Limerick on 12 May en route to the 2002 All-Ireland final, where they faced Armagh.

After a bright start, Cooper was injured in a clash with Tyrone goalkeeper Pascal McConnell which limited his involvement.

After beating Dublin by two points in the semi-final, Kerry progressed to face their bitter rivals Cork in the first ever all-Munster All-Ireland final.

Cooper got the goal that put Kerry in the driving seat, rising to fist the ball over the onrushing Alan Quirke.

In 2009, Cooper was dropped from the starting Kerry 15 for the qualifier game against Antrim on 26 July, due to a breach of team discipline.

The 2012 championship saw Kerry lose to Cork in the Munster semi-final but go on to play Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final on 5 August.

Kerry defeated Cavan in the All-Ireland quarter-finals before losing to Dublin in the semi-final by 3-18 to 3-11 with Cooper scoring four points in the game.

In February 2014, Cooper suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in the All-Ireland Club Championship semi-final against Castlebar Mitchels which kept him out of action for most of 2014.

In 2016, Kerry reached the Munster Final again and played Tipperary, winning by 3-17 to 2-10. Cooper went off injured in the first half of the game with a collarbone injury.

However, he has declined any invitation to represent Ireland in the hybrid game since, as he claims not to have enjoyed the experience; 2005 was a year when the series was marred by violence and intimidation.