Jonny Cooper feels the early roasting he received from Kildare's Paddy Brophy in the Leinster SFC semi-final two years ago has made him a better player.

Brophy plundered 1-2 in the opening minutes, but Dublin recovered to win by 16 points and many are expecting a similar outcome when the teams meet at the same stage of the championship on Sunday.

"Naturally enough, I would have been hard on myself," the Na Fianna clubman is quoted in the Irish Daily Star.

"But I suppose when you reflect and step away from it, you know, I just slipped for a goal and one or two other points he got off me.

"I'd analyse it in the way I would any other type of game. Obviously, it didn't help that he scored, the guy I was marking. He got a bit off me, but it didn't affect me too much.

"I just had to try to prove to Jim that I was worthy of a spot the next day, so that was the challenge. I'd like to think I'd have grown from experience over the last number of years - maybe since that game.

"But there would be no guarantee, anything can happen - you just try to set up the way you set up and implement what I can do personally, control what I can."

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