In between all the brouhaha over the managerial comings and goings involving Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill, the news of Colm Collins becoming Clare senior football manager in October 2013 created the kind of ripple you get by throwing a corn flake in a bathtub.
Collins was succeeding Mick O’Dwyer in the role, and though well respected and successful within Clare football circles, the Kilmihil man taking the reins from one of the most celebrated managers in the history of the GAA felt a little anticlimactic.
If Micko was known everywhere simply by his mononym, Colm Collins was largely unknown anywhere outside of Clare. But that was then. On Tuesday night Collins was reappointed as Banner senior football boss, which means in 2023 he will walk the sideline for the 10th consecutive season. He is the longest serving senior intercounty manager of any one team.
Brian Cody’s decision to step away from Kilkenny has afforded Collins the distinction across both codes. Mickey Harte has been managing non-stop since 2003, but he has worked with two different counties during that time, Tyrone and Louth, so that leaves Collins out on his own as a the longest one-team man.
“But Mr Cody and Mr Harte both have their Celtic Crosses,” smiles Collins. “Ah, I don’t take much notice of the longevity thing, I have always just taken it year to year, it wasn’t something I set out to do but it has just panned out that way.”
Collins is no carnival barker, so ahead of the 2014 season he quietly set about the task of rebuilding Clare football. Expectation levels might have been low but football people in the county realised nobody had more knowledge about the players in Clare than Collins, who had already devoted a lifetime to the game. A few weeks after his appointment as county manager he managed Cratloe to a first ever Clare senior football title and they retained the crown in 2014. Collins is still also Cratloe manager.
Micko had lasted just one season at the helm in Clare, his spell ending after a 3-17 to 0-10 All-Ireland qualifier loss to Laois in Ennis. In the decade prior to Collins assuming the role, the county footballers went through six different management teams – none of which were fronted by a Clare man, as outside bosses from Kerry, Galway and Cavan tried in their own way to raise the Banner.
When Collins took charge Clare were plying their trade in the basement division of league football. However, in his first season they secured promotion out of Division Four. It wasn’t summitting a mountain kind of stuff, but at least they were back clinging to the rungs of the ladder once again.
Then in 2016 Clare achieved promotion from Division Three and beat Kildare in the divisional final at Croke Park. They have remained a Division Two outfit ever since. They have twice contested All-Ireland quarter-finals, most recently this season.
“The next step is to beat those top teams. You probably wouldn’t have said that in the Clare dressingroom in 2014 but for us now that would be the next step, to be challenging and beating the top teams,” says Collins.
“I think there is a lot more in this team. And there is great work going on at underage level in the county, there are some really good players coming through so we are hopeful things will keep improving in the future.”
At the end of every season Collins initiates a review that provides his players with the opportunity to express their thoughts on the set-up. With all sentiments presented in complete anonymity, it can be high-wire stuff by the management team should some players want to shake the rope.
“There have been some interesting things over the years, but to protect the guilty I suppose I better not say! No, the question is asked whether they want the management to stay on and we also look for their feedback on the season, they are the people putting in the hard work on the training pitch and going out to play the matches.
“If I felt there was negativity there or that the players wanted a change then the minute that happened, that would be it for me, I’d go.”
At a time when some counties are struggling to attract intercounty managers, the decision by Collins to stick around challenges a narrative the gig has become too burdensome, too much hassle.
“I enjoy it, and I’ve been very lucky over the years to be surrounded by tremendously talented people in the management teams. Thankfully, I have never been subjected to the type of abuse other managers have received in recent times. Some of the stuff, especially online, about managers is very unfair and you can understand why people have walked away or do not want to get involved.”
Clare’s 2022 season ended in a heavy All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Derry at Croke Park, with Rory Gallagher’s Oak Leaf side running out comprehensive 14-point winners. Having produced a gutsy and skilful display to beat Roscommon in their previous game, Clare’s showing against Derry was lacklustre.
“You are always judged on your last game and for us that was a very disappointing performance. Derry were very good on the day, and it’s not to take away from their performance, but we didn’t perform to the levels we had been during the year, so it left a bit of a sour taste.”
Still, Clare’s impact on the season was recognised by the All Stars selectors this week when Eoin Cleary received a nomination.
“Like every manager I suppose I’d feel we could have got a couple more, but I was delighted for Eoin, he’s a very important part of our group and a real leader.”
It takes one to know one.
