Cooke led the U–17 girls to triumph in the Gothia Cup in 1995, beating Taiwan in the final; and, the following year, won the Dana Cup with the U–18's when defeating the State of Texas in the final in America.
One of his last games came against world champions USA in front of 30,500 spectators at the Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts in September 1999.[2]
He was alongside Damien Richardson from 1999 to 2002 as Rovers finished League of Ireland runners-up and reached two FAI Cup semi-finals.
In 2003, he got his first manager's job in the league at Monaghan United. After seven seasons he took over from Bobby Browne in February 2011 and in the 2011 League of Ireland season he led Drogheda to ninth place and safety in the Premier Division.[3][4]
Cooke took over as manager of Athlone Town in November 2013, but left the position in April 2014 after the club lost all of their opening ten league games of the 2014 season.[6]