*Clare manager, Colm Collins. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Clare will need to produce their best performance of 2021 if they are to eliminate Kerry from this year’s championship, Colm Collins has stated.
In charge of the county senior footballers since 2014, Collins has rightly earned plaudits for the progress made by the Banner under his tutelage. They have gone from competing in Division 4 of the Allianz National Football League to maintaining their reputation as a strong force in Division 2 and are viewed by many pundits as the second best team in Munster.
Despite this the Kilmihil native has had the misfortune of getting paired with Kerry on a more frequent than liked basis in the provincial championship.
Their last visit to Killarney saw Kerry claim a 0-32 0-10 win in 2018, that tie also coincided as the first championship appearance for the trio of David Clifford, Sean O’Shea and Micheál Burns who between them contributed 0-11.
Before that, they met in Fitzgerald Stadium in 2016 when rather than parking the bus, Clare had to contend with a bus breaking down en route to the game. That is a scenario, Colm is confident will not be replicated on Saturday. “That was very poor preparation really for the match because we barely arrived on time for it, it wasn’t ideal. Hopefully we won’t have that problem this weekend, with COVID there won’t be buses anyway. The last time we had to give ourselves plenty of time but we didn’t play well, that was the main thing”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, he agreed with sentiments of his centre back and son, Sean that their final League clash with Mayo was the best test they could have obtained in advance of their trip to Killarney. However he differed with him when it came to views on the format of the NFL. “I like the other format better in the sense that you play a lot more games but it was something that was important to do this year because of the type of season, I think it worked, we had no complaints but personally I would prefer the other format and the full eight games”.
Trying to beat Kerry in their own backyard is not an unenviable task but it is one Colm and his management team of Enda Coughlan, Declan O’Keeffe, Gerry McGowan and Declan Downes have been plotting.
“They are obviously the form team in the country at the moment, they are really playing some good stuff, all we can concentrate on is getting our own house in order and doing things right, the key thing will be turnovers, if we can keep possession of the football and keep doing the things we’ve been doing well, our shooting efficiency has been very good, we need to retain our kickouts and lay our hands on theirs,” the Cratloe man stated.
He added, “They have a very impressive attack, they’ve been scoring freely, the key thing is to stay in the game and not be blitzed like what happened to Tyrone and Galway in their games with Kerry. We need to stay in the game as long as we can and see where it takes us”.
This will be his first campaign without both Gordon Kelly and Gary Brennan who retired from inter-county football after last year’s championship. The burden of replacing players of their calibre has been aided by players such as Darren O’Neill, Darragh Bohannon and Daniel Walsh stepping up to the mark during the League.
Should Clare fall short against Kerry it will conclude their championship activity while the county hurlers will have the luxury of a backdoor if matters don’t go their way on Sunday. “I would have loved to have retained the backdoor, it was a great system and something that worked really well, it is a pity we don’t have it but we knew the rules before we went into it and that is it. It’s been a difficult year because of COVID, we just have to get on with it”.
With a shorter turnaround, the long-serving manager still has the championship pep in his step. “We were preparing and taking it game by game. We were trying to improve with each game, by and large I thought we did, hopefully our best performance of the season can be Saturday evening”.
