Collins confident Galway are ready to deliver on championship big stage

In his 12 seasons as a Galway hurler David Collins has never felt leaner, meaner, and more confident – or indeed looked it. The only worry now is making sure that transfers to Croke Park this Sunday.

Because just like the new Dyson fan, Galway are capable of blowing brilliantly hot or cold, depending which way they’re switched on. No one knows this better than Collins, who having attained the captaincy for the second time in his career, now claims Galway are finally ready to blow some heat.

“I was captain before, a few years, ago, in 2006,” says Collins, who at 31 has reached near veteran status. “But it feels different now. I’m older, and feel more incentive to try and drive this team on. And I’m surrounded by a fantastic team at the moment, 32 lads who are all chomping at the bit.

“If I look back, years ago, did we have that? No. So it’s a lot easier now to get lads up for the stage. Because we have a lot of guys on the team that can bring us up to the front.”

Galway will be at the stage front on Sunday, when they face Dublin as part of a double-bill at Croke Park (the Dublin footballers play Longford). Having only won two championship games in the last two seasons (both against Laois), Collins points to no lack of motivation, including the fact they were knocked out by Clare in 2013 (the eventual All-Ireland champions), and last year by Tipperary (the beaten All-Ireland finalists).

“Of course we’ve looked back on all those games,” says Collins, “and I could tell you everything that happened. Look at us last year, we ended up playing Tipp, in a preliminary quarter-final, in Thurles, with 30,000 people there. And we made a balls of it.

Direct route

“The same in the Clare game, the year before, who went on to win the All-Ireland. So it rings some bells. It will have to change this year. The direct route is the way you want to go. And it’s about what can carry us over the line, and finish out the games. That’s what it’s about. Because consistency is Galway’s major problem.”

Addressing that consistency, says Collins, is a mental issue, not a physical one. Speaking at an event of hurling sponsors Liberty Insurance (along with an equally lean, mean and confident looking Joe Canning), Collins also made it clear exactly how Galway can turn that inconsistency around.

“Consistency is key in Galway’s game, which Galway team shows up. And it is a mental thing. You can train as hard as you want, and we are all fit, our first touch is excellent . . , but it’s that aggression level. When you are on the field, and you play the game as you see it. When you bring in too many tactics and try to stop the other team playing then you lose your own fluidity.

“And Galway have been ahead in many games, one or two points in it, with 10 minutes to go, and we’ve lost by six. Those last 10 minutes are key and we’ve been working on that very well, and I think we are in a great shape for Sunday, and for the rest of the year.”

Collins describes Galway’s recent rivalry with Dublin as “healthy”. “There is definitely a level of intensity there you won’t get in many other games. The hitting is always tough, but it’s fair, and there is never a dirty stroke pulled in any of those games.”

He agrees their recent league meeting – which Dublin won by six points – had more shadow-boxing than actual punch. Sunday will be different, he says, because neither Dublin or Galway want to go down qualifier avenue, not with the likes of Clare already sent that way.

Whole lifestyle

“Winning and losing this is night and day,” says Collins.

“We’re six years in Leinster now, and in 2012, when we won Leinster, we made the All-Ireland final, so going down the direct route is where you want to go. I also think going into 2013 we thought we were going to be okay, just keep this going. But we seemed to tire then, there seemed to be a stage where it just dropped. It was unacceptable, really. We were shocking against Tipperary last year. . .”

For Collins, the demands of the game now are very different to 12 years ago.

“It’s really changed, but the whole regime, the whole lifestyle has changed. It’s gone so professional now that it’s a different ball game. It’s just a generational thing. The young lads now are 19, 20, coming in fit, lean, and aggressive, and everything in their life is hurling.”