Collins couldn’t watch frantic finale to Clare’s All-Ireland defence
The 2013 All Star, suspended for the game after his red card in the first game in Ennis, was in Wexford Park for the replay but was so wrought with nerves he couldn’t take it in.
“I was down at the hurling game and it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, sitting down watching that, thinking you’ve let down the team and not being able to help at all. And then going down to 13 men, it was cruel. The extra time I couldn’t handle: I had to leave with five or 10 minutes to go.
“I sat under the stand, I couldn’t watch it. I could hear the crowd and there was a young kid in there, one of the Wexford selectors’ son, and he had his phone out and he was following it away on Twitter.
“He was sitting in the room with me. He was too nervous for his dad, and he was chatting away to me. I knew by the roars Wexford had got on top and I knew then. I had to switch off and forget about the hurling and focus on the football.”
Collins left the Wexford Park dressing room long before his team-mates, disheartened he didn’t have a chance to redeem himself.
He fully backs Davy Fitzgerald as well as himself to come back brighter next season.
“It will give me drive for next year because it really was a very disappointing year for me, not playing well against Cork and getting sent off against Wexford and missing the second game.”
And while the feelings may still be raw, he’s already adopted a philosophical attitude.
“I’m playing hurling and football my whole life. I understand that on any day you go out, anything can happen. Balls can break your way and you can have a good game; balls don’t go your way and you can be taken off.
“That thing against Wexford was very disappointing but that’s life; you just have to get on with it. Sport is so unpredictable and you just have to drive on for next year.”
Collins also dismissed any idea Clare have a disciplinary issue having had three players sent off in the space of a week. He feels Brendan Bugler’s red card in the replay as well as Tipperary U21 defender John Meagher in Wednesday’s Munster semi-final defeat to Clare were harsh.
“My thing and Brendan Bugler’s thing [straight red cards], those things happen in sport and it’s just a shame they happen two weeks in a row. In hurling there are always going to be these belts off the ball and it does happen. Sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don’t and that’s just the way hurling is.
“Even like John Meagher [Tipp U21] getting sent off for that dunt, the rule is it’s a red card now but in the scheme of things you’re going up for a high ball and there are lads pulling across your head and the ball breaks on the ground, you could break your leg with a pull.
“There is no health and safety in hurling, it’s just the way it is. It’s an intense game and sometimes emotions get the better of you and you can lose the head a bit.
“Stuff like that happens but I don’t think it should be a red card.
“I think refs should look at it and what damage is done. Is it really necessary to send a player off? It’s not good for a game if a team have a man down. It was awful hard for John Meagher, playing an excellent game centre-back and then he gets sent off. I’m sure he’s very disappointed.”
Collins, an unofficial backroom member of the U21s, took some solace from their extra-time win in Cusack Park.
“Our Clare senior hurling team is very dependent on younger lads. There are so many of them on the panel, 14 or something, so for them to get a bit of a confidence booster is massive.”
