Clare football boss regrets Davy call to bar dual star sons

Clare football manager Colm Collins claims the county’s hurling management didn’t seek to negotiate regarding his sons Séan and Pádraig playing both codes.

As it stands, the Collins brothers will only play football for the county in 2015 after hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald issued them with an ultimatum and his football counterpart insists that the decision was taken unilaterally.

“The hurling management decided that they weren’t going to have any dual players,” he said.

“The players decided they were going to play football and that’s where it is. We’re not happy about it, we were happy to accommodate them in any possible way.

“I’ve nothing to do with this, absolutely nothing. I was strongly of the view that things could stay going as they were. I suppose it’s good news for us [football team], but it’s not really news that we wanted. Both of them are mad sportsmen and they’d love to play both. As a father, I’d love to see them play both but it’s not to be.

“The decision was made by the senior hurling management, so there were no negotiations. If they’re going to reverse it then that’s their decision too.”

Collins, speaking to Joe Seward on the Square Ball programme on Cork’s LifeFM 93.1 last evening, believes dual players are too easy a target when things go wrong.

“I would feel that it wasn’t an issue,” he said. “I’d dearly love if all players were judged by the same yardstick as dual players are. I think in Cork that seemed to be the situation here too.

“If you judge every player in the same way then that’s fair enough but there are some people who think if you touch a football that you’re contaminated and there are probably people on the other side who think the opposite.

“The player that’s going to do it is going to have to be a very dedicated guy. He’s going to have to make a lot of choices and he won’t have the down-time of another player but if he’s prepared to do it then I don’t think there’s any problem whatsoever.”

With Cork having three dual players — Aidan Walsh, Eoin Cadogan and Damien Cahalane — this year, the issue may be raised on Leeside during the winter, but Collins doesn’t feel that the Clare situation will influence matters.

“I think that Brian Cuthbert and Jimmy Barry-Murphy will do things their own way, they won’t be following anybody’s leads,” he said.

“I’ve never had an angry word with Davy Fitz, never. I felt that the arrangement was fine but the hurling management didn’t and they’ve made their decision.

“It wasn’t a 50-50 arrangement last year, it was three-quarters hurling. I’m on the record as saying that I’m totally for dual players.”