Fit-again Podge Collins ready to embrace life of ‘pure football’

The last thing Clare footballer Podge Collins would admit to is any lingering insecurities. Although it may or may not help that the Clare hurlers have had a distinctly less impressive start to the season than the footballers.

Either way, Collins is now a pure footballer, and having recovered from the hamstring injury which limited his role in the opening two rounds of the Allianz League, he’s primed for Sunday’s meeting with Sligo.

With one win and one loss so far, a Clare victory may prove crucial in the quest for promotion to Division Two – and, with that perhaps, further justification of his decision to give up hurling with the county.

Collins chose football after Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald effectively told him he couldn’t play both codes, although he insists his relationship with Fitzgerald is still good – and he hasn’t ruled out the prospect of returning to hurling in the future.

“I’d be hoping I do get to go again with hurling, who knows?” says Collins. “I’ve met [Fitzgerald] once or twice since and we’ve just had a chat. There’s no bad blood there. I understand his point of view and I’ve just got to stick with the football now for the year and see how I get on.

Tipping away

“But I wouldn’t be thinking about it right now because my focus would be 100 per cent on the football, and training with them. I do keep the hurling going, training away myself. The club will be starting with the league and if you leave the hurley down for a month, you’re going to get rusty. So keep tipping away.”

Clare began their Division Three campaign well by beating Wexford, but Louth got the better of them in round two – Clare’s chances not helped by the fact they went the last 27 minutes of the game without a score. “We’d a great win over Wexford, as impressive a Clare performance as I’ve seen in a while. The lads were on the ball. relentless. Up in Louth, it was never going to be an easy fixture, and they were after a loss and had the hunger.

“I know it’s a cliche, but we’re really only taking every game at a time. We’re just concentrating now on Sligo, hopefully getting two points there, and just pushing on from that. That’s genuinely the focus and as soon as the league is over, just concentrating 100 per cent on Limerick, in the Munster championship.”

That’s not saying he doesn’t occasionally think about what he’s missing with the Clare hurlers: “Yeah, you would of course. Even though I’ve made great friends with the footballers who I’ve played with since I’ve been a kid, you’d miss the friendships in the hurling as well. Hopefully I’ll meet them again at some stage.”

Meanwhile, there is one notable change to the Westmeath team for their Division Two showdown against Kildare on Sunday as former All Star goalkeeper Gary Connaughton is back wearing the number one shirt for the first time since his retirement in 2013.

Connaughton did declare his intentions to play some role after being called in as a selector under new Westmeath manager Tom Cribbin, although Sunday marks his first return to the action. Darren Quinn, who played in goal for the opening two rounds, is sidelined with a groin injury.