All-Ireland SFC final: Kerry reaction: Colm Cooper wasn't quite at rest in the Burlington Hotel yesterday but the kinetic energy so in evidence during Sunday's All-Ireland football final had stilled. The 21-year-old Dr Crokes corner forward crowned a great season with a man-of-the-match performance in Sunday's final to further his claim for the Footballer of the Year award.

While he doesn't have the physique of a bodybuilder, Cooper has worked in the gym to strengthen his wispy build over the last year, and he had to recover from a groin injury.

The team have also developed and he is quick to sing the praises of manager Jack O'Connor, with whom he had worked before.

"I worked with Jack at under-21 level but he's been immense this year. No stone has been left unturned.

"He's given young guys chances and made tough decisions: in the Dublin game Paddy Kelly started, yesterday he left Michael Frank out. Sometimes you have to be ruthless in football and it can be tough. You mightn't have too many friends but Jack and the selectors have been excellent all year."

Ruthlessness wasn't confined to the management on Sunday and a remorseless first-half performance, highlighted by Cooper's goal, more or less settled the match by half-time. But the spectre of 2002, when a four-point lead over Armagh was lost in the second half, still haunted the dressing-room.

"At half-time we said 'Nil-nil: go out there and try and win the second half'. There was never an issue that complacency would set in. Maybe in 2002 some of it was our own doing but that was never going to happen yesterday."

On a personal level, Cooper wasn't as easily distracted as two years ago when as a teenager he prepared for his first senior All-Ireland final. "I don't think there was as much hype this year. Maybe because 2002 was my first All-Ireland I might have felt it a little bit more. I didn't feel it really building up during the week and it didn't faze me as much. Everything was relaxed and there was confidence among the players."

That confidence was well-founded, as Kerry gave their best display of 2004, confirming the semi-final win over Derry represented a picking-up of momentum. "We put in a more complete performance than we had all year. The Limerick games were patchy, the Dublin game was the second half, Derry the second half. We never really put it together. Yesterday we mightn't have been perfect but it was a more complete performance.

"Even when Mayo got the goal we responded well and got three points on the trot. It really set us up and we took it from there."

As for his own goal, he recalls the ball coming in from Eamon Fitzmaurice's booming free kick. "It stuck to my hands like glue and when I had a yard on my man 'goal' was all that was on my mind. I wouldn't have gone for a point. I cut back inside and rolled it into the corner, closed my eyes and heard a cheer going up."

Not for the last time this week.