EOIN CLEARY, THE current captain of the Clare footballers, was first added to the squad in 2013 only to be cut from the pack shortly after arriving.
A tough punch for an aspiring player but the newly appointed manager Colm Collins laid out the reasons for his decision. Cleary’s fitness levels weren’t up to the required level, and he simply wasn’t operating at inter-county standard. Yet.
Cleary left the set-up feeling encouraged rather than burned. Collins gave him the instructions and the incentive to shape his inter-county future. It was over to Cleary then. Within a year, he had earned a recall to the Clare team. And by 2020, he was Collins’ first choice as captain to succeed one of the county’s greatest-ever footballers, Gary Brennan.
There are similar stories of growth under Collins’ tutelage all over the Clare panel.
So when the Cratloe man informed his players of his intention to step down over the weekend after an incredible 10 years at the helm, the dressing-room quickly swelled with emotion and applause.
“He had a few nice words for all of us,” Cleary tells The 42 about the response to Collins’ decision which he announced in Longford’s Pearse Park after Clare’s defeat to Derry which marked their final act in the 2023 All-Ireland championship.
“He was quite emotional as were we. There was a clap in the dressing-room; I’ve never witnessed anything like it to be honest. It went on for about two or three minutes. I suppose even Colm himself found it hard to get the words out because of the relationship he had with the players and everyone involved. We were all just as emotional because that’s how much he means to us.”
Following the departure of Brian Cody from the Kilkenny hurlers in 2022, Colm Collins was crowned the longest-serving manager currently in Gaelic Games. A decade of sincere service to the Banner and not one second was wasted or misused.
The milestone moments of his tenure include guiding Clare to All-Ireland quarter-finals in 2016 and 2020 as well as a climb in league form which brought them from Division 4 to Division 2. There were All-Star nominations too, including ones for Cleary last year and in 2021.
The standout memory for Cleary is a league victory over Cavan in 2020. The sides met just before the Covid-19 pandemic took over. Clare went into that game on the back of two defeats and were also trying to adjust to loss of Gary Brennan and top forward Jamie Malone who had stepped away from the panel. But in the face of such difficult circumstances, Cleary was proud of how his teammates united to get a win.
And behind every achievement and every individual accolade was Collins’ commitment to raising the Banner.
“One of his sons said to me during the week that he really found his passion in life when he got involved with Clare senior footballers,” says Cleary. “You could see that he tried to add something new to the set-up every year to keep it fresh. In fairness to Colm, it’s a serious credit to him and his family that he kept involved with us for those 10 years.
“We lost to Armagh in 2018 up there, and I remember seeing him that day and how upset he was. I said, ‘Oh, this is going to kill us now. We’ve lost Colm.’ I was full sure he was gone that year, and then he stayed on another five seasons which is unbelievable going really.”
Collins cared about more than just the football ability of his players. Their needs as humans were equally as important to him, a characteristic which will have a lasting effect on all those who played for him.
He exceeded his role as a mentor for Cleary after he suffered a personal tragedy in 2015.
“I lost a good friend of mine in a car crash and Colm gave me the time and space to heal. I missed a training session or two but that’s what Colm knew I needed at the time. Even the year he made me captain after Gary Brennan — one of Clare’s greatest-ever players — stepped away, I had been taken off in the last game against Meath in the qualifiers.
“I had a terrible game and I was thinking if I’d even be on the panel the next year? Colm just put the arm around the shoulder and put so much faith in me. I said from that day that I was going to be really meticulous about my preparation and try to lead from that point of view. You’d have a serious sense of loyalty to him.
“He treated us all fairly but yet he treated us all differently. He knows every individual has different needs and wants. That was the great thing about him. Once you understood the person, he’d do anything for you and he was a genuine man so when he said something to you, he meant it.”
10 years of dedicated service cementing structures which will hopefully sustain Clare football long into the future.
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