Colm Collins: Any chance to play in Croke Park is a good thing

Just eight players on Colm Collins' Clare football panel have Croke Park experience, the 2016 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry

Clare manager Colm Collins. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

With Pearse Stadium available, the expectation was that Clare and Roscommon would be on the road to Salthill this Saturday afternoon. The Galway city venue, after all, is where the two counties met at this very same stage of the championship six years ago.

With Ennis to Salthill less than an hour’s spin, and Roscommon-Salthill easily doable in under an hour and a half, Pearse Stadium seemed the obvious - and logical - choice to host this latest last-12 qualifier between the pair.