| David Cooke | |
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Two days before the clash with top of the table Shamrock rovers I talked with one of United’s regular starters this season, Dave Cooke. Dave has shown some excellent skills throughout the season so far and has dazzled his opponents even winning a penalty along the way. How do you feel your season has gone so far? Pretty well to be honest, it’s great to be getting first team football and especially playing with a side that has a genuine opportunity of winning something. I have had a good run of starts this season including pre season which has helped me with match fitness. I’m not losing the run of myself however there are plenty of players snapping at my heals to get on the team ahead of me. What do you think of the board’s decision to sign Tony Cousins as manager? It was a brave call and a good call. We were all upset that Lal chose to leave but even Lal would say get on with it lads and its still good to see him in Terryland at all the home games. It was a brave call in that Tony wasn’t in a manager’s position per se before his appointment. It was a good call in that the board could see that Tony had what it takes and would be a success on the banks of the Corrib. He knows what he wants to get out of us as a team and what’s even more important is he knows how to get it. He’s going to be one the top managers in the League before long. What are your thought on the loss of Dublin City to the League? It’s kind of mixed emotions in a way. It sounds awful to say it but all the first division clubs were probably licking their lips at the prospect of another spot to be made available in the top flight. The club was relatively young being established in 2001 but of course its previous incarnation Home Farm was there a long time before. Either way nobody wants to see a club going to the wall because even if there are only 100 supporters those 100 supporters do exactly the same as the lads do here in Terryland or Tuners Cross etc. It could happen to any club at any time. We won’t be relying on outside influences to get promotion one way or the other, we know the only true option is to lift the title and that’s what we’re going for. What do you do when you’re not playing soccer? Well at the moment I’m in college in NUIG studying for an Arts degree. I have no real idea of where I want to go career wise yet but it’s important to have the formal education to back me up for when I do decide what I want to work at! Other than that I play a bit of golf and keep the head together for going back to college in September. Do you feel threatened by the arrival of Mick O’Donnell during the transfer window? No not really. Mick’s a nice guy and all that but I intend to keep my head down and work for my place in the squad. Any team player will tell that if you get complacent in this squad you’ll be found out. We’ve got greater strength in depth now since the three new signings and that shows how good a move it was to choose Tony as the manager. He’s got his hand on three quality players there. I intend on learning a bit from Mick too as he’s got a good bit of experience over me. What are your thoughts on our promotion chances this season? I think we’ve got a great chance of going straight up this season. It took a few games for us to play the way Tony wanted us to but once it clicked we’ve strung four wins together. There’s a great buzz in training, there’s no tension, we’re playing good football that I hope is entertaining the supporters in Terryland. We’ve got two big games in a row now versus Shams and Lims and hopefully by the time the fans read this we’ll have picked up another six points! It’ll be tough but we’re well up for it. Have there been any additions to the training programme? Yes we’ve started having ice baths in the last while. It seems to be something that has gathered pace over the past twelve months. Rugby and GAA teams have being doing it too. Basically what happens is after our warm down we hop into the ice bath then into the shower before repeating it once again. It’s so refreshing and it takes away the tiredness of limbs after a training session. You feel excellent straight after training as it stops the build up of lactic acid causing trouble for the muscles. Who do think has influenced your career most to date? Well I’m not going to mention any names because they all know who they are. Former coaches, family and friends they’ve all had a great influence on my soccer career. I suppose the fact that my dad, Dominic Cooke, played for Galway Rovers was always going to be a good influence on me. I’m just glad I got the chance to represent the family at this level again. |