From small acorns, mighty oaks will grow

Any week in Kerry is a football week, but when the Sam Maguire Cup is up for grabs, that applies to every second of every day.

Hurling is confined to a few pockets, primarily in the north of the county, while the reach of camogie is smaller again.

Laura Collins’s late blooming is reflective of that dynamic, but also to the positive trend of growth in camogie’s development in the Kingdom.

And now, as Collins prepares for another appearance at Croke Park — in Sunday’s Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship final (noon) with the Kay Mills Cup up for grabs — she is representative of bright hope for a healthier future.

Incredibly, there is only one senior club in Kerry. There has been a benefit of sorts in that, with a band of sisters annexing League Division 4 and 3 titles, and reaching All-Ireland Junior A and Premier Junior finals at inter-county level, while also appearing in an All-Ireland junior club decider with Clanmaurice.

But the lack of competition and depth is a hindrance to progress. So the county board has been very proactive in building on recent achievements, and the profile of stars like Patrice Diggin, Collins and company.

“I think there are six underage clubs now,” says Collins.

“We have got two new underage clubs this year alone. Sliabh Luachra and Abbeyk illix AbbeyKillix (All one word. Checked with club secretary Lisa Fealy 087-7849928. Ta - Blake) are set up.

"They now have U8 and U10, as far as U14. They are starting to build, and hopefully they will keep building.

“I know there has been talk of Clanmaurice splitting and getting a second club. But the numbers at the moment aren’t there.

“We have 24 on our panel for a county team. You are not going to have it [a second club] for a few years. But hopefully with the underage structure coming stronger, that can happen.”

Having role models youngsters will see in person at Croke Park and on RTÉ as the final is televised live for the first time, is a major part of the development project. But the players haven’t stopped there.

“To be fair to our senior team, they are so good for helping out the underage clubs. I know Niamh Leen has gone over to Sliabh Luachra quite a bit. Some of the other girls like Jackie [Horgan], Aoife [Fitzgerald], Julianne [O’Keeffe], Olivia [Dineen]; they have all gone over toAbbeykillix Abbey Killix. Jessica Fitzell has helped out quite a bit, andEilish [Harrington].

“It is great and the kids love it. They love getting us there and seeing us playing, coaching and stuff. As far as I know most of the clubs are sending up busloads of kids. It is brilliant.”

Now 28, Collins still feels like she is playing catch-up in terms of the skills, having missed out on almost herentire teenage years.

“I played underage with the boys up to U12 because there was no camogie club and then there was nothing until I was 19 or 20. There was a long patch there where I had no camogie at all. I had a little bit in college in UL while I was there because I wanted to play.

We just started the club then in Kerry and I have been playing ever since. Every week, you can’t wait to get out there. There are a few girls there that didn’t take up camogie until they were 16 or 17. There were a couple more girls who came through the underage structure in the county.

“I still can’t take a free or a sideline. But we will avoid those! You miss out a lot of that when you don’t play at that age. As a kid, that is what you are going to mess around trying things. That is how you get better at it.”

Collins’s day jobs have provided her with natural advantages that have proven vital to Kerry and Clanmaurice.

“I have a horse riding centre. It is all outdoors. I milk for a farmer as well. As the girls say here, ‘What time are your cows milked so we can go training?’ I get awful abuse for it. It is all hard, physical work.

"Sometimes it is hard after a full day of teaching camp with kids, or trucking around with horses, to turn around and go training. But the girls make it easy. [New manager] Ian Brick makes the training sessions intense and fun as well.

“Between lifting bales and buckets and moving this and that, it stands to you. The youngest girl on our team, Bríd Horan, works for me in the summer as well and she now has that natural strength, just from being around the yard the whole time.”

A once-a-week physio treatment is a non-negotiable element of her weekly regime to iron out the inevitable kinks from the pulling and dragging when working with horses, not to mind the odd fall. That ensures she is in top condition when taking the field — a resolute force under and over the sliotar.

On Sunday, she will be attempting to play her part as Kerry pursue a historic All-Ireland at headquarters. Playing in Division 2 of the league this year was tremendous preparation, as is the experience of playing in last year’s final, although Dublin left them bereft.

“That absolute disappointment will help us to drive on. We really want it this year. Just that experience of last year, coming out under that tunnel and hearing that roar. That alone got the nerves going for a lot of us. Just having that experience alone will help us on game day.

“The management had us prepared. They had brought us through the walk through. We had seen it all but there is nothing that compares that going through that tunnel on game day. I do think it got to us a little bit.

“Division 2 is a huge difference. We could see last year with Dublin, they played Division 2 and then came to Premier Junior, it was a different ball game. The speed of them, the touch, everything. It was amazing. I am hoping it will stand to us as well.”

Certainly, there is a sense that Collins and Kerry are ready.

“I am so excited. As Ian would say, one to five, we are number five on the buzzing scale!”