Will dual counties be the next to die in GAA’s new realities?

For the record, it wasn’t Podge Collins’ decision last month to concentrate on inter-county hurling that marked the end of the dual dodo. When the bionic Aidan Walsh opted for the hurlers in 2015, it confirmed this art of juggling had seen its day. When someone as insanely athletic as Walsh could no longer do it, nobody could.

Collins was a special case. Mostly out of respect for his father Colm, he lined out for the Clare footballers, but the writing was on the wall last year when he picked them after Davy Fitzgerald had made him choose between the two. “We did not have Podge with us as often as we would have liked and we felt his recovery between games was not what it could have been,” explained Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald was more conciliatory to Collins’ situation this past season, yet he gleaned more from the player than his father and he continued to question the feasibility of the dual commitments. Collins may not ever tell Fitzgerald he was right to select one love over another, but then he had to see it for himself. Family ties meant that was difficult. Collins is as altruistic a sportsman as they come, but it’s only now that he’s really thinking about himself.