Patrick Collins on Cork puckout pressure ahead of Limerick rematch in Munster championship

After a bruising defeat to Limerick, Cork’s Patrick Collins opens up on puckout criticism, pressure, and playing for redemption

PUCKOUTS: A goalkeeper role has many facets with puckouts a key one. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

The Cork restart was devoured and dismantled three weeks ago. Patrick Collins' opening puckout bypassed intended target Tim O’Mahony, was gathered by Tom Morrissey and returned between the posts by the same player. The tone set for the afternoon.

Cork, marginally, won more of their 25 first-half puckouts than they lost. Thirteen retained, 12 not. But where Cork managed just 0-4 off 13 puckouts won, Limerick struck 2-5 from the dozen they intercepted, spoiled, or wrangled control of on the ground.

Even into the second half when the hosts hurled into the breeze, Limerick’s 0-3 off the Cork puckout bettered the visitors’ two white flags.

Cork’s restart being devoured and dismantled did not dominate the post-match conversation. It wasn’t even close to the front of the conversation. Cork were devoured in every facet of play and so the puckout problem merely melted into the larger picture of woe.

“You are always going to have games that are going to be challenging,” Cork goalkeeper Collins said of the 16-point pumping.

“Limerick pressed hard and we weren't up to the pace of it. Our work rate wasn't there. Our standards weren't up to scratch. We let ourselves down as a team.

“If that performance was later in the championship, you'd be waiting seven or eight months to try and rectify what you did, but we're lucky it wasn't the be-all-and-end-all for us that day and we have another opportunity on Saturday to bring a different version of ourselves.” 

The 3-26 to 1-16 skewering represented Cork’s first Munster championship defeat since the loss at home to Clare in April of last year. The Cork puckouts were front and centre of the conversation that afternoon.

The Banner mined 2-5 off Collins’ restart and a third goal from a wayward clearance of his. Of 20 second-half puck-outs, 13 were lost.

First-half puck-outs were sent straight to David McInerney, twice, another to Peter Duggan, and a free to David Reidy. There were three more such instances in the second period, including a 43rd minute clearance read and gathered by McInerney that ended with a Mark Rodgers goal.

Arriving off the back of a Munster opening round defeat to Waterford where Cork's restart retention was 51%, Collins and his puckout were men under pressure.

“I'd be good at keeping the outside noise out,” he said of that most challenging period.

“I wouldn't take much heed to what people are saying or what is being said about what way we are playing or what way the puckouts are going. I know myself what way they are going.

“I'd be looking for perfection, in a way, myself. So if anyone is to be critical, it is going to be me anyways. So whatever happens outside [in terms of analysis], I don't mind that.

“It's just to work on the different bits at training as best you can and improve each time you go out. They are not going to be perfect every day, but you are always trying to get better. The first two games [last year], yeah, they would have been down, but when it went to the Limerick game, things started to improve.” 

Improve is an understatement. The return off Collins’ puckout was sensational when turning over then champions Limerick to keep themselves in the championship.

Unparalleled success against the green wall. When he wasn’t going route one to the edge of the D, he attacked the space on Diarmaid Byrnes’ wing. Of the 12 puckouts onto Byrnes’ patch, Cork found 0-6. In total, they sourced a monstrous 3-12 from their own restart.

“There's great satisfaction in that. That's working towards trying to be perfect. Not always going to be perfect, but you are working towards that and when you do get nights like that, of course you are going to be delighted.” 

Puckouts, if not already abundantly clear, are the barometer by which the No.1 community is judged. Point-blank saves are still a trading currency, but it’s puckout retention and puckout returns that determine whether a goalkeeper is celebrated or condemned. Unfairly or not, the movement of the targets he’s directing missiles at tend to be afforded a much easier ride.

“It is a team game. It is a linkup between me and the lads. If the lads move and I don't hit them, then that's on me. If I hit it and they don't move, that's on them. But it is just natural that the focus does come back to the goalkeeper. That's just the way it is, and you have to have the mental strength to keep on going and take it on the chin really,” the 28-year-old Anglesea Street Garda continued.

“Your core values are still your shot-stopping, your touch, your control, your handling. It is kind of a quarterback feel that you are trying to find space here and there. That is one of the main reasons I like it; it is a challenging position.”