The ultimate players’ manager

‘You gave us hope. You made us dream. You filled us with confidence.
The ultimate players’ manager. Thank you for everything Colm, you are a special man.
As the old saying goes, we were never playing for Clare, we were playing for Colm Collins.’

Success is measured in many different ways and by many different metrics, depending on the county and on the code.
So it is that we view the Clare football team through a very different prism than we do the hurlers, never mind comparing the Banner County with rivals from across the county boundary.
For the hurlers a championship title is what they’re measured by – be it Munster or All-Ireland. Put simply, one of them is demanded and expected because of what the 1995-98 era gave us and what the bolt from the blue in ‘13 provided this generation and onto the next.
It’s different for the footballers, even allowing for the fact that the big ball game’s own bolt from the blue in 1992 is the rarefied atmosphere that every senior football team is trying to shoot for, but not measured by.
Instead, the tenure of the senior football side under Colm Collins’ watch is measured by what he inherited, what he’s built on and the way he has left the county after bringing the curtain down on the longest current inter-county management run in the country.
In simple, but hugely important terms, he’s left Clare football in a much better place than it was when he assumed the reins in late 2013. That’s success, because huge strides were made, even if there were plenty of regrets along the way.
Just look at where Clare football was at back then, after the county board tried some very different approaches over the previous decade to get some momentum going as the heady days of the 1990s when Kerry were beaten for the first time since 1949 and Cork for the first time since 1941 had all but faded away.
There were some green shoots under John Kennedy’s watch, particularly when 2004 Leinster champions Westmeath were dumped out of the championship the following year in Ennis, while in 2006 under the Donie Buckley and Michael Brennan team Clare went toe-to-toe with a very good Fermanagh team that had been in an All-Ireland semi-final two years previously, only to fade away at the death.
However, in those years and after that under different management set-ups, from the National League point of view Clare were in Division 2B or Division 4 and were not for moving.
In fairness, the board tried to mix it up in the different management teams that were sourced – All-Ireland winning club manager with Caltra, Frank Doherty, was given a spin for two years; multiple All-Ireland winner Páidí Ó Sé had his year, before Micheál McDermott, who brought Kilmurry Ibrickane to the 2010 All-Ireland then had a three-year stint; finally there was the greatest of them all in Mick O’Dwyer.
Big names and different names, but it didn’t matter – Clare really weren’t going anywhere, save bringing 2010 All-Ireland finalists Down to the wire in Cusack Park in ‘11 when only going down by a point.
It wasn’t until Colm Collins came in that things changed and instead of being also-rans in the nether regions of the National League they became contenders and winners and at long last football was going in the right direction.
That was his greatest success, with his vision and belief that Clare could contend becoming a reality as new standards were set and met and the results followed thereafter.
There were important staging posts along the way – the first one being in Creggan in Antrim when the wind blowing in off Lough Erne was capable of cutting you in two, but it didn’t blow Clare off course as that first league promotion was secured.
That was in April 2014, just a few months into his tenure and Clare football had finally turned the corner – the great success since that day Antrim were beaten and promotion to Division 3 was secured is that they haven’t really taken a backward step since then.
It got Clare to Croke Park and even though they lost that Division 4 final to Tipperary, it’s a fact that over the past decade, the footballers have had more days out at headquarters than the hurlers.
The Division 3 final win over Kildare in 2016 was a huge highlight, just as playing Division 2 football was for seven years as the county routinely mixed it with bigger teams, with even bigger pedigrees.
The championship wins over Roscommon in 2016 and last year were standouts – the first because it had Clare back playing championship football in Croke Park for the first time since 1992; the second because of that barnstorming finish that lit up Croke Park.
Of course, the regret was that ultimately Clare couldn’t bridge that gap to 1992 – and it has to be a huge regret because the chances were there and it wouldn’t have taken much to turn defeats into victories.
Those days in Cusack Park when Clare went to shoulder-to-shoulder with Kerry – in 2014 when it finished 1-17 to 1-14 and again in 2017 when it was 1-18 to 1-12, were opportunities lost.
But 2020 was the big one – Mark Keane’s goal in Páirc Uí Chaoimh helped Cork take care of Kerry, so this was Clare’s time. It was set up. Tipperary, Limerick and Cork stood in their way – the stuff of dreams because they were better than all three.
Tipperary had been a bogey team over the years but a thrilling 3-15 to 1-19 win in ‘19 to secure Division 2 status had sorted that, but it was Tipp and not Clare that seized the opportunity in that Covid year and won Munster.
What might have been, but much was still achieved: that long run in Division 2; the great league record against Cork that included three victories, not forgetting this year’s seismic first championship win over the Rebels in 26 years.
Look at where Cork are now? In its own way, this is a tribute to Clare, because if the two sides met this coming weekend it would be 50/50 with a Colm Collins team really fancying their chances.
Yes, 2023 was ultimately disappointing, with that wretched run leading to league relegation and the failure to garner any points from the round-robin series of the All-Ireland series was not a great way to bow out.
However, the only takeaway that matters is that thanks to Colm Collins’ great record of service over 10 years Clare football is in a much better place in 2023 than it was in 2013.
It was put best by captain Eoin Cleary who said this week: “You gave us hope. You made us dream. You filled us with confidence.
“The ultimate players’ manager. Thank you for everything Colm, you are a special man. As the old saying goes, we were never playing for Clare we were playing for Colm Collins,” he added.However, Colm Collins would be the first to say that the players have to kick on now and do it for the next manager. All because it’s not about the manager – it’s about the team being the best they can possibly be.
The manager helps them get there.
On to the next man!
The baton is being passed.