CLARE AND LIMERICK? WE KNOW EACH OTHER TOO WELL
COLM COLLINS begins his fourth Championship campaign as Clare manager in Cusack Park this Sunday and he will do so with a fourth different coach in his backroom team. Alan Flynn initially came to prominence when he led his native Galway to the All-Ireland Under 21 title in 2013. Now, he is lending a hand as Collins hopes to maintain the Banner’s upward curve. ‘Yeah, this is the fourth different coach. I must be a very difficult man to get on with,’ the affable Collins chuckles. Flynn replaced Mick Bohan who left to take the reigns of Dublin’s Ladies football team. In 2015, Ephie Fitzgerald, who led Cork Ladies to the All-Ireland last year, was involved while Cork’s 2010 All-Ireland winner Paudie Kissane was involved in Collins’ first year. Ironically, Kissane will be part of the opposition backroom team in Ennis as he is now working with Billy Lee in Limerick. However, Collins believes he has struck gold in recruiting the highlyregarded Flynn. ‘I knew Alan from his days with the Galway Under 21s and a mutual friend recommended him. I rang him and thankfully he accepted the offer and we met a couple of times. I liked his attitude and his philosophy in football. He’s been a tremendous addition.’ Collins admits that Clare’s upward trajectory has made it much easier to get top coaching talent on board. ‘It is easier to attract them that way but a true coach will see opportunities anywhere,’ the Cratloe man points out. ‘Sometimes, a coach will see a team that is bottom of Division 4, they can’t go any further down so any improvement is a good thing. ‘There are different ways and means of motivating people. True coaches are so much into it and into getting a performance. There are only 32 intercounty teams out there. It’s where you want to be.’ Clare’s survival in Division 2 of the Allianz League reinforced the belief that they are now a force that have to respected. But Collins says it was just another step on their journey. ‘It’s all going in the right direction, hopefully. Beating Cork and things like that are all part of the journey. You have to get good displays and play well against serious opposition. ‘The one thing that you notice about Division 2 is that the mistakes that you get away with in the lower divisions, you don’t get away with them up there. And if you’re not where you should be or you are out of position, you get punished. It’s a learning
curve. They are doing very well and there are a tremendous bunch of players there. They’re quite capable of improving more this year.’ With Limerick a Division 4 side, Clare, who made the All-Ireland quarter-finals last year, will be red-hot favourites in Cusack Park, but Collins says that anything can happen in this local derby. ‘The beautiful thing about Clare and Limerick is that one team could be in Division 1 and the other in Division 4 and you can be guaranteed that when they play in Championship there won’t be a kick of a ball between us. ‘You can go back over Championship results between us for a long period and that’s the way it is. I expect this to be no different. We know each other inside out. ‘I don’t think any other two teams in the country knows more about [each other] than Clare and Limerick. ‘In the last two years we’ve met twice every year, in League and Championship. This will be tough,’ added Collins. But with the addition of Alan Flynn’s expertise and the sense that Clare want to, at least, return to Croke Park this summer, the home side will be expected to prevail.