Collins and Clare looking forward to big Croke Park assignment

After a decade patrolling the Clare sideline, this weekend Colm Collins will manage against Dublin in a competitive match for the first time.

Or as Banner football folk might put it, at Croke Park on Saturday evening Dublin will finally be afforded an opportunity to play against the longest-serving intercounty manager in the country.

“Absolutely it’s something you look forward to,” says Collins, on facing Dublin. “Let’s be fair here, they have been incredible, for so long they have been the yardstick that everybody else looked up to.”

But while Clare might be Division Two’s great survivors, Dublin have little intention of hanging around there too long with Dessie Farrell’s side already on course for an immediate return to the top flight for 2024.

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Saturday’s league clash, which throws in at 7.0, will be the first time Collins has faced Dublin in competitive fare, but he did once cross swords with them out on the west coast. During Jim Gavin’s spell as manager there was a strong Dublin-Clare link as both his parents, Jimmy and Ann (née Vaughan), hailed from west Clare, and Dublin held a number of weekend training camps in the county during that all-conquering era.

In May 2015 a challenge game took place in Miltown Malbay between Dublin and Clare. However, the Banner were out in the Munster Championship just one week later and obviously conscious of that fixture, the home side had to field a weakened team against Dublin.

“It was a good match to get but, from our perspective, it just turned out the timing was terrible because we had championship the following weekend,” recalls Collins.

“Dublin were in Doonbeg, staying in the hotel there and as part of their weekend away they played us in a challenge match. They had a free weekend the following week, but we didn’t so we had to mind our players. We got well beaten.

“Still, it was a big thing for the locals with Dublin coming down here. Jim has west Clare connections, which he has never forgotten.”

Over the years Collins has also availed of the parentage rule that allows counties to call upon players from elsewhere – including Dubliners Pat Burke from Kilmacud Crokes, Shane McGrath from Thomas Davis and Conor Talty from Raheny.

Saturday’s match will also mark the sixth occasion in which Collins, who was appointed in October 2013, has taken Clare to Croke Park, but more significantly it will be their third appearance at GAA headquarters in less than a year.

Clare beat Roscommon in an All-Ireland SFC qualifier in Croke Park last June before losing a quarter-final to Derry at the same venue just a fortnight later.

During his tenure there was also a Division Four league final loss to Tipperary there in 2014, a Division Three decider win over Kildare in 2016 and an All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Kerry that July.

“Everybody who plays Gaelic games wants to play at Croke Park, so we are delighted to be going on Saturday and hopefully we can improve our strike-rate there now,” added Collins.

There is a significant amount at stake, for Clare in particular. It would be a surprise if Dublin, despite not setting the world alight in their opening three games, do not ultimately finish in the top two of the division.

Clare, on the other hand, find themselves looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone after losing consecutive matches – away to Meath and at home to Kildare. They beat Louth at Cusack Park in their league opener, but the manner of last week’s loss to Kildare must have been gut-wrenching for the squad.

“We were very disappointed last weekend but that is now history,” says Collins. “We have to look at the points in front of us rather than the ones behind us. You have to get on with it and the aim is to get a performance now against Dublin and see if that will be good enough.

“What they have achieved over the last ten years or more has been incredible. The six in-a-row was a phenomenal achievement, so many of those fellas have been super footballers and super ambassadors, so it’s a great challenge for us and nothing focuses the mind again like a fixture against Dublin in Croke Park.”