The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘Meyler coming in has brought a great buzz’
SCORER-IN-CHIEF and the team captain, Daniel Collins has taken over the mantle of leader on the pitch from the man who now wears the bainisteoir’s bib.
Still very much young in years he will this coming Sunday be bidding for his third championship medal. Since the inception of the Kerry Hurling All Stars in 2013 he has been selected on all five teams in four different positions.
Like Shane Brick his career at times has been curtailed with injuries and he is currently nursing a back injury which he hopes will not affect his participation or effectiveness in the final.
If Kilmoyley are going to capture their third title in four years, then, their multi talented marquee player is sure to be the one who will be inspiring their challenge. The defeat to Lixnaw in the 2014 final looms large in his thinking ahead of this final one suspects.
“It was hugely disappointing at the time, but we were a young team, the majority of that team were only eighteen, nineteen and we were still learning. As it turned out it was a huge learning curve for us, because we lost that one, we came back the following year and we won in ‘15 and we won in ‘16.
“It was definitely disappointing, but, it was a huge learning curve for us.”
Collins career shows us that the days of the dual player are all but numbered. The talented player no longer lines out with Ardfert, a team with whom he enjoyed considerable success.
“I have hung up my boots on the football side of it, it’s too difficult, between Kerry hurlers as well. I suppose injuries on top of that, there’s too much going on really. I just put my whole focus on hurling.”
Back to this year and to a semi-final victory over Ballyduff, which reversed a defeat at the same stage a year previous.
“Apart from the Kilmoyley camp not many people gave us much hope,” he says.
“We probably weren’t performing too well, we struggled against Crotta, we struggled against Ballyheigue, Lixnaw and we played Ballyduff here a few weeks ago in the County League semi-final, they were missing nine or ten and we only pulled a draw out of it. Apart from ourselves, nobody expected us to get through.”
Collins’ calmness under pressure has made him one of the most effective players we’ve seen in the championship from the placed ball in recent years.
“It’s hard, some days you go out, you think, a tackle and some days it could be a free,” he explains.
“The game against Crotta the referee left everything go, whereas the last day the referee was a bit more whistle friendly, so I think it depends on the referee as much as anything else. Look, if you give frees away against Shane Conway, every time it’s going to be penalised, so it’s very important to keep the free count down.”
The back-room team for Kilmoyley this year has been top notch the captain feels.
“We couldn’t ask for more, the boys have been absolutely fantastic. As well Richard O’Leary, our strength and conditioning coach, the amount of work he has put in since last February and March has been phenomenal and they totally brought a different approach to it.
“It’s really professional, maybe to every other year, they have really taken it up a notch and with John [Meyler] coming in, since Cork lost, it has really brought a great buzz around the place and it probably helped us over the line a small bit, the last day as well.”
The role of captain is well known to the former Kerry skipper.
“You are expected to perform,” he says. “But I suppose the county players are kind of expected to perform anyway, maybe, even the last day I probably didn’t perform as I would have hoped for, but the rest of the lads the likes of Joe Mac (Elligott) and Jordan Brick, really stood up and were counted.
“I wouldn’t be vocal [in the dressing room], I try to do my talking on the pitch. Like that you have Shane [Brick], the likes of Tom Murnane and James Godley are the more vocal lads in the group, they like to do it and they are good at it so we just leave them at it.”
Collins is well aware of what Kilmoyley face in Lixnaw.
“They are a quality team,” he says.
“Any team with Shane Conway are going to be difficult to beat, but I suppose they are a bogey team on top of that as well. I think we have beaten them just once since ‘07 or that, so, it’s going to be a real difficult task.
“I wasn’t [surprised that they beat Causeway], I thought there was a lot of pressure and expectation on Causeway, maybe, the experience of knowing how to win made all the difference to Lixnaw in the end, and, they were fully deserving of their win as well. “It make a difference [having championship winners on board], Lixnaw I suppose are in the same boat, a lot of them have county championship medals as well, so there’s not a whole pile in it in terms of experience. We will have a right cut off them anyway.
“Nobody expected us to be here, especially with the injuries we had to some big players, Colman Savage, Paudie O’Connor, Adrian Royle, they are huge players down the middle for us, so look nobody expected us to be here and that makes it even better for us.
“We really enjoyed the last couple of weeks, we are definitely going to enjoy the next few weeks.
“Hopefully, it would be great to cap it all with Neilius Flynn.”