Podge Collins unlikely to return for Banner hurlers

First off the bat, Podge Collins wants to plead his innocence. He’d nothing to do with either of the Cratloe motions going forward to Congress next Saturday. 

Not the one calling for video to be the only admissible evidence other than the referee’s report in a disciplinary case and certainly not the proposal for the heavier sliotar.

“I don’t want it anyway. I can barely strike it as it is,” he laughs.

These days, a sliotar isn’t in his hand as much as it would have been in recent years because of his decision to focus on football for the season.

That said, he’ll be in Páirc Uí Rinn this evening to support his former colleagues. But for a challenge game with the footballers, he would have been at the Galway game last Sunday too.

Being a spectator will take a little getting used to. “Definitely it will be strange watching on from the stands. I’ve been playing with those boys since I was 15 so I’ll be happy to support them and fingers crossed they’ll get a result in Cork which won’t be easy.

“Come the Limerick game in championship, I think it’s in Thurles… we’re playing Limerick the night before in Limerick, so I’ll have that and then the next day, that’s when it will hit home I’d say. You always want to be on the pitch, you’d be mad to get out there. It’s only natural (to miss it) but I’m only 23 so hopefully I’ll have a few more years at it.”

There’s been no falling out with Davy Fitzgerald, he insists. “We’ve met once or twice since and we’ve just had a chat. There’s no bad blood there, I understand his point of view and I’ve just got to stick with the football now for the year and see how I get on.”

But if he’s honest, he can’t see himself returning to the fold sometime later in the year.

“Genuinely, I wouldn’t really be thinking about it, my focus would be 100% on the football and training with them. I do keep the hurling going, training away myself. The club will be starting with the league and if you leave the hurley down for a month, you’re going to get rusty. So keep tipping away.”

His old team-mates have been kind to him since his decision. There has been little or no slagging and he remains a member of some of the squad’s WhatsApp groups. He can see themselves bouncing back from losing to Galway, perhaps starting in Cork this evening.

“You’d be hoping to pick up two points there somewhere with tough games against Tipp and Kilkenny to come after that. Division 1A has no easy games, anyone can beat anyone, no one is completely dominant. I’d say it will be close but Clare will bounce back, I think.”

Collins believes the hurlers will succeed once more if they match their motivation of 2013. “They’ve won three U21s and there’s a real dedicated group of lads there. They wouldn’t be lads who’d be messing. They really look after their diet, their training, they wouldn’t be going out.

“So I think when you have that, added to the skill level of some of the players like Tony (Kelly) and Colm (Galvin) and a few more, I think you’re going to have success if they keep up that drive for the rest of their careers.

“Like, last year was a flop obviously, from a Clare hurling point of view.

“Really, it was a bad year for us but you’re going to have years like that. Listen, it’s sport, it’s not always going to work out. There are no fairytales, really.

“But after last year I know there’s a massive hunger and they’re just mad hungry to get back into it this year and prove themselves that 2013 wasn’t a fluke, hopefully.”