*S&C coach Derek Morris and coach Podge Collins. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
SAYING no to a request from Ger O’Connell to become part of his Clare minor management was something Podge Collins found difficult and now they’re sixty minutes from guiding the county to a third All-Ireland title at the grade.
For Cratloe’s Podge Collins, “it’s an honour to be involved with your county at any level” and despite being quite busy when approached he just couldn’t turn down the offer to be part of the Clare minor hurling panel. “I had a meeting with Ger O’Connell last September and it was very hard to say no. It’s my first year with this group,” the 2013 All-Ireland SHC winner said.
While he has many notable achievements to celebrate with his club and county including many outstanding performances with the senior footballers also, defeat in the All-Ireland minor final in 2010 is “a huge disappointment”.
He recalled, “I was involved with the minors in 2009, down at the lower end of the panel and doing hurleys and things. The year after in 2010, I was playing. We had a great run, won Munster and got to the All-Ireland final, a game we lost by two points to Kilkenny, which remains a huge disappointment. I always had a lot of time for that group of players and the management”.
Collins continued, “when the opportunity to get involved this year arose, although for me the timing wasn’t great, as I was quite busy, it was a hard one to turn down. It’s an honour to be involved with your county at any level and obviously I got to know the group of players throughout the year and it’s been an excellent journey”.
According to the Cratloe man who is still a key player with his club’s senior hurlers and footballers, “this team has learned from every game from the ones won and the ones lost, they have learned every day and the coaching staff have learned as well. In fairness a massive amount of work has been put in by everyone to right what we would see as wrongs from the group stages. We had some disappointing days, losing to Cork and Waterford but in fairness to the lads they have bounced back and they have been on a good trajectory since”.
Podge believes that when Clare played Waterford in the group stage in Dungarvan “Waterford deserved the win that night, I thought we were a bit off it, our workrate wasn’t where it should have been, I thought they were a bit more clinical than us. They have some excellent hurlers. They had a tough loss in the Munster final but they have bounced back and they gave a massive performance against Kilkenny. It will be another tough game”.
Referring back to his time playing at minor level he said, “we had Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor as joint managers and Paul Kinnerk was the coach. There was a very good set up for its time. It’s gone to another level now with the amount of time the guys put in, the coaches the video analysis. The preparation that goes in before the session is excellent and the players appreciate it which is nice. Its full circle nearly”.
Getting the balance right has been one of the strengths of this year’s manager, he felt. “Training and the time involved has to be varied, lads need to have lives as well especially for those at school, Sessions have to be varied, when you are finishing school and going out the door to training and if the sessions are too long lads aren’t going to pay attention. It’s about finding the balance and in fairness to Ger O’Connell he does find that balance and he knows the nights where we finish early and the nights when we say a bit later”.
Podge went on to say “the amount of minor players that break on to Clare senior teams is what we talk about as a management team. Regardless of whether we win or not, at the end of the day, you want the players constantly developing, it’s lads who may be on the back end of the panel at development level that make the breakthrough that really impress you. I’m looking forward to seeing in ten years time how many of these lads breakthrough to play senior. That’s what we are pushing them to do and when this is over, that’s what we want them to do”.
Concluding he noted “the domestic scene is really ramping up now and this will be over on Saturday week. All the players give a massive commitment and that’s what you sign up for. I enjoy it and if I didn’t I wouldn’t do it”.
