Clare football manager Colm Collins says his 'incredible' players are never beaten
Clare senior football manager Colm Collins reacts to his team's stunning comeback victory over Roscommon in the All-Ireland qualifiers, and says that they will not fear anybody in the last eight.
Monday 13 June 2022 15:25, UK
Colm Collins was beaming after Saturday's comeback win over Roscommon.
He had every reason to be. The Banner boss had just watched his team pull off a stunning comeback to sink the Connacht finalists.
The Munster side found themselves trailing by five points after 67 minutes, but dug deep to stun the Division 2 champions.
"That was bad for the heart," Collins laughed after the contest.
"I'm very proud of them, they're a tremendous bunch of lads. Things didn't go right for us last week [against Meath], and we still got the victory. Today, the spirit and the determination and the guts of these fellas to pull a win out of a tough position. I'm absolutely delighted for the players.
"They're never beaten. At no point do you give up on them, ever. They've proved it again and again and again. And again today.
"I really felt we went asleep after half-time, made the mistake of thinking that the game was over, invited them on us and they have really good forwards, a foolish game to be inviting them on us.
"It looked like we were in real trouble but they showed real spirit. You have all been involved with teams, when you're playing, and it doesn't matter if it's only an U-12 team, when they show that kind of resilience you're so happy for them and proud of them.
"Hopefully now we can continue and there's an All-Ireland quarter-final there now and let's see what we can make out of that."
No manager in Gaelic football has a longer active streak in charge of a county than Collins, and his longevity was fully justified with Saturday's victory.
"People are saying to me, why are you nine years in the job? I'm nine years in the job because I have an incredible bunch of players," he stated.
"If these fellas were [useless], nobody would stay with them nine years. They're just incredible."
Clare were paired with Ulster champions Derry in Monday morning's All-Ireland quarter-final draw. Collins did not know the next opponents after the match, but vowed that Clare would put up a strong fight.
"We'll prepare as well for them as we prepared for today. And hopefully give a good account of themselves," he said.
"I don't think there's any team unbeatable. I think on a given day any team can beat another team. Let's see who we get on Monday morning and go after them."
And could they take another step, and qualify for the county's first All-Ireland semi-final since 1992?
"I would hope so, yeah, I would hope so. Look, we'll be listening to the [draw] at half eight on Monday morning so happy days."
