Conor Cooney keen to extend that winning feeling on county scene by bagging another trophy with Tribe

The comments of GAA president Jarlath Burns this week that All-Ireland SHC and SFC finals could return to September has got tongues wagging – and many club players fear they could be left on the long finger once again.

There has been a plethora of county managers bemoaning the condensed season in recent months – including Jim McGuinness, Colm O’Rourke and Pádraic Joyce – with the players’ perspective often forgotten in the debate.

Cooney had a long club season before returning for Galway duty so he can see it from both sides, and the 31-year-old feels the county season is more than long enough, if managed correctly.

​“I suppose there’s a degree of certainty in that you know when you’re playing and when you’re not playing. It’s probably a good complaint that we’re going well with the club. Just thinking of our own club lads at home, they had a nice break there,” Cooney said.

“The club league started a few weeks ago. You might have a few lads who will go abroad and take the opportunity to do a bit of travelling and they will come back for the championship whenever it starts, be it August or whenever.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever please everyone. I can only speak from my personal experience. I don’t really mind it, to be honest. If managers manage it well, give you a bit of respect and don’t flog you, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Donnchadh Boyle previews this weekend's football and hurling championship action

“I personally would prefer to be playing matches than be training for six weeks with the aim of playing one match. Lads just want to play games, really.

“I understand there’s the players’ perspective, the media perspective, the managers’ perspective, but I’d prefer to know I’m playing matches. If the work is managed and you’re not flogged, you can stay injury-free, it’s doable.”

The St Thomas’ success, their first All-Ireland since 2013, was “a monkey off the back” and Cooney is hoping to right a few more wrongs for Henry Shefflin’s Tribesmen over the coming weeks and months as their Leinster SHC round-robin campaign commences.

First up is the visit of Carlow to Pearse Stadium tomorrow but the heartbreaking final moments of last year’s Leinster final loss to Kilkenny – Cillian Buckley bagged a winning goal in the dying seconds – is not far from Galway minds.

“It’s a good few years now since we won Leinster (2018). It’s probably something we need to put right. Obviously, the goal going in was a killer. It was just the way it worked out; that’s sport, that’s the nature of it,” Cooney said.

However, they can call on huge experience this year with David Burke back to his best after cruciate surgery while the US-based Johnny Glynn has returned to the county fold after a five-year hiatus, with the towering attacker remaining in Galway for the summer.

“He’s a mighty lad to have involved with any group,” Cooney said of Glynn. “He’s a great lad on a personal level and a great lad within a team. It’s hugely positive that he’s back. He’s in great shape, he’s a great athlete. He’s a huge bonus and a real asset to the team.”

Renowned coach Eamon O’Shea is another who Cooney relishes working under – “the sessions are so enjoyable and it flies” – and the All-Star forward, now in his 13th season, is keen to win what he can while he can with their 2017 All-Ireland success long forgotten.

“When you say how long ago it was, you say, ‘Jesus, is that length of time gone?’ but it’s not something you’d be looking back and saying we need to do this or that. You wholeheartedly believe that you’re going to win something, you wouldn’t be sticking around if you didn’t, well I wouldn’t anyway,” he said.

“You’re not going to be around forever so you want to win as much as you can while you can. I feel fit and healthy and I feel like I’m in a good place.”​