Clare’s Podge Collins suffers curse of the cruciate

Clare star Podge Collins will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his cruciate in a club championship hurling game on Saturday afternoon.

Collins, the former All-Ireland winning hurler who opted to play for the county’s footballers, sustained the injury in Cratloe’s defeat to Ballyea in the opening game of their Clare SHC title defence.

The former All Star sustained the injury following a collision with Paul Flanagan in the opening stages of the game.

Ironically he played on, scoring his side’s opening point in the 14th minute, before being forced off after a quarter of an hour.

His father, Clare senior football manager, Colm, last night confirmed the severity of the injury.

He said: “Podge tore his cruciate and that was confirmed by a scan that he had this morning. Essentially, his season is gone. He’ll be seeing a specialist this week and they will decide when to operate.” Collins wasn’t the only footballer to suffer a serious injury in the game, with county colleague Ballyea’s Martin O’Leary dislocating his shoulder in tie.

Clare are set to play Cork in a Munster SFC semi-final in Páirc Uí Rinn on June 14 however Collins is hopeful David Tubridy and Shane McGrath, who missed the opening round win over Limerick through injury, will be available. “McGrath and Tubridy are making good progress in their recovery and we hope to have them both fit.”