Colm Collins: 'Let's see who we get on Monday morning and go after them'

Clare's Jamie Malone celebrates with manager Colm Collins. ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

Colm Collins admitted he felt Clare were in 'real trouble' before staging one of the great Croke Park comebacks to secure an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final spot.

The underdogs enjoyed a strong first-half and led by four points at one stage but went on to be outscored by 0-11 to 0-2 during a one-sided period that lasted until late in the second-half, leaving them five points behind.

They only scored once from open play in the second-half but what a score it was as Jamie Malone capped a memorable fightback with a 75th minute winning point, the final score of a 1-3 blitz that stunned Roscommon.

Asked if it was the biggest win of his nine seasons in charge of Clare, boss Collins said: "I'd be very happy with it because it looked like we were in real trouble but they showed great spirit. You have all been involved with teams, it doesn't matter if it's an U-12 team or whatever, if they show that kind of resilience that we showed then you're just so happy for them and proud of them. 

"Hopefully now we can continue to push on because there's an All-Ireland quarter-final and let's see what we can make out of that."

Clare also beat Roscommon in a Round 4 qualifier back in 2016 though were well beaten by Kerry in the subsequent All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Current provincial champions Kerry, Dublin, Galway and Derry will all be in the hat for Monday morning's last eight draw which will pit the qualifier teams against the unbeaten provincial winners.

Collins agreed that it was a tough game against Kerry in 2016 but sounded an optimistic note about whoever they face this time around in a fortnight.

"It was tough, yeah, but if you're going to proceed you're going to have to beat one of these teams," he said. "I don't think there's any team unbeatable. I think on a given day any team can beat another team. Let's see who we get on Monday morning and go after them."