Collins still waves banner

COLM COLLINS moves into his 10th Championship campaign as Clare manager tomorrow – though only at the behest of his players.

With Brian Cody’s retirement in Kilkenny last year, Collins became the longest serving intercounty boss at senior level and, the team’s recent relegation to Division 3 notwithstanding, he has done a remarkable job by any standards.

He brought Clare from Division 4 to Division 2, keeping them there for seven seasons while sometimes contending for Division 1, and a pair of All-Ireland quarter-finals, without any notable underage success.

It’s no wonder the players would wish for him to continue year after year but Collins sounds them out in the form of a private questionnaire all the same.

Strong

“The most important thing is the players,” he says. “To my mind, you have no hope of success unless you have a strong majority of the players that want you.

“What we have done in the past, we have given them the opportunity for them to have their say on that anonymously.

“The minute that percentage would drop I would be gone because I don’t think you would have any hope of success unless 80/90 per cent of the players are on your side. Now, you will never keep everyone happy. It is awfully important, that is what has happened over the years

I have been in there.”

Collins smiles when it is put to him that there are other factors at play that would potentially impact on his ability to commit to such a demanding job over the course of a decade, such as his family life.

“They don’t suffer, they are glad to see the back of me,” he laughs. “Listen, for someone that loves football like I do, and my particular passion would be Clare football, this is my dream job and I’ve been very lucky to get this opportunity over the past 10 years.

“It is like a kid that supports Man United and you end up managing them. That is what it is like for me. Obviously, it will come to an end, but when it does I won’t have any regrets.”

Relegation was a bitter pill to swallow this year as they blew winning positions against both Kildare and Dublin which ultimately cost them and it leaves them out of the All-Ireland race as things stand, despite reaching the quarter-final last year.

Pathway

But Collins insists that the “results don’t lie”, while enthusiastically embracing the fact that there is a pathway back into the top tier this year by reaching a Munster final, starting with tomorrow’s quarter-final against Cork in Ennis.

“You have to take responsibility for where you are yourself. We still have our fate in our own hands. So you can’t really complain in that situation. I think if we bring some of the performances that we put together in the League, to Sunday and we play well, I think we’ll be fine. But it’s up to ourselves.”

And what if the Tailteann Cup is their lot after tomorrow?

“I’m a massive fan of the Tailteann Cup. I think that for too long in GAA, we’d a situation where inter-county players were training, from counties that weren’t successful, were putting in savage hours, and had no realistic chance of being successful.

“I think this is a massive competition. If that’s where you end up, I would embrace it completely.”

EXPERIENCE: Colm Collins is the longest serving senior inter-county manager