There is much honour in dying with one's boots on, but Colm Cooper knew there was a better way to go. He tottered off stage loosely-shod, with boots hanging off each foot. Such is the fate of the corner-forward who found no other fit to tie his laces.
Tributes have poured forth freely for the Gooch, accompanied by the spooling of yarns and the screeching of u-turns. Whereas Joe Brolly revised his 2012 opinion of Cooper, Tomás O'Sé set the record straight on their being dropped for drinking in 2009.
Cooper's reputation across Ireland is largely impeccable, but the mania he inspired in the Kingdom is one his great legacies. The O'Sé brothers, Kieran Donaghy, Jack O'Connor and myriad other Kerry legends have been quick to praise Cooper all week, with the respect they had for Cooper obvious.
The extent to which that devotion was shared by all across the Kingdom has been wonderfully accentuated by Eoin Liston in today's Irish Independent, who tells a cracking story showing just how popular the Great Man was.
Liston believed Cooper was Messi, Federer and Ruby Walsh commingled, the "most complete footballer" he had ever witnessed, and was the only player he could remember who received standing ovations.
And that was in a great team with the likes of Tomás ó Sé and Declan O'Sullivan. But when Gooch did something the 400 or so people in attendance would stand up in unison.
That just tells you the reverence they have for him, and such occasions were only reserved for Colm. When he worked on the counters with AIB in Tralee, it caused pandemonium because everyone wanted to get their business done at his kiosk. Some wouldn't even have an account there but they popped in just to get the great man's autograph.
Superb. We won't damn Cooper with faint praise by proclaiming him Ireland's most popular banker.
