My Club and I: Podge Collins

In the latest of our 'My Club and I' series on GAA.ie, we speak to Clare's All Star forward Podge Collins about his club, Cratloe.

Interview: Brian Murphy

Founded in the same year as the Clare County Board way back in 1897, Cratloe contested the first-ever Clare Senior Football Championship final in the same year, losing to near neighbours Newmarket-on-Fergus.

[highlight/>

The club has a long and rich history in both codes but it is only in recent years, with the emergence of a fresh crop of outstanding young players, that Cratloe managed to win their first county titles at senior level - hurling in 2009 and football in 2013.

Along with Podge Collins and his older brother Seán, Cratloe's Conor Ryan, Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney and Liam Markham featured prominently in Clare's All-Ireland success last year.

Based in the village of Cratloe seven miles from Limerick city and just inside the Clare border, the club benefitted hugely from the building boom during the 2000s, when the population of the village exploded.

The club has been based at Páirc Micheál Uí Heithir, named after the legendary RTÉ broadcaster, since 1991.

Tell us a little about Cratloe and the surrounding area?

There is just upwards of 1,000 people in the parish. It's a small enough parish on the main road to Galway just outside Limerick.

What are the facilities like at the club?

We've one pitch and a big sports hall, the Michael Murphy Sports Hall, which is named after a local player that passed away at a young age. We have a ball alley at the back and a gym inside. It's a good set-up, great for the young lads and even the senior players like myself to train in. We have just the one pitch and it would be handy to have another for training because it does tend to get a bit cut up.

Neither of your parents are from the area, so how did you end up in Cratloe and when did you first get involved with the club?

When I was eight years of age we moved to Cratloe. We lived in Caherdavin in Limerick before that. My dad's from Kilmihil, which is in west Clare, and my mother is from Cullen in Co. Cork, which is on the border with Kerry. They are two football strongholds, really.

From a young age, Joe McGrath took the hurling and my Dad (Colm) took the football and trained us when we were from U10s all the way up along. We were down at the pitch playing both codes nearly every night of the week. The work they put in I think has really stood to me.

With your father Colm as coach and two other brothers involved it must have been a real family affair...

We were always down at the pitch together. I have one older brother Seán (pictured above, centre, with the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1997), who's 26 and plays hurling and football with me (for Clare and Cratloe) and a younger brother Dave (above right) who plays hurling and football with the club as well. Sport had always been a huge thing in our household. My mother is mad into it as well, she's a huge fan and helps out in any way she can.

Do you remember your first senior game for Cratloe?

I remember my first senior hurling game for Cratloe well because it was the quarter-final of the Clare Senior Hurling Championship. I played a junior game before it and I wasn't supposed to be togging out but they told me to come along at the last minute. We were down a point in the last five minutes and I came on and the ball hit the post and I was fortunate enough to hit the rebound over the bar and we drew. Then we hammered them in the replay. My hurling debut is kind of memorable enough. My senior football debut would have been the same year but I don't know who it was against.

Tell us a little about the ups and downs you've experienced in a Cratloe jersey?

Winning the club's first-ever Clare senior hurling title in 2009 was massive, but winning the football title in 2013 was a huge deal too, especially because my dad was the coach. To turn around then and win a Munster semi-final the following day (against Waterford's Ballinacourty) was huge for us. I suppose losing to Dr. Crokes then in the Munster final would have been one of my saddest days in a Cratloe jersey. All told, 2013 was a memorable year.

So, is there more of an emphasis on hurling or football in Cratloe?

Originally, it would have been seen as a hurling stronghold but there's been a bit of a shift lately. Everyone is happy once we are winning and we are happy to enjoy either code as long as there is a bit of success.

What was it like to come back to your club with an All-Ireland medal last year?

The club are always good to the lads who play for Clare, in fairness. There are some great people involved and they will be texting, tweeting and ringing and wishing you the best of luck. I have great time for my club.

Between all your playing commitments at inter-county level with Clare and then at third level with UL, is it difficult to find the time to get down to the club during the season?

With training, you don't get that much time to go on the pitch with the lads, but I get down to meetings as much as I can and try and meet up with the lads. The club is where it starts and finishes so I think trying to spend as much time as I can in the club is an aim for the year because last year maybe I didn't see enough of my clubmates during the season.

You have county senior medals in both codes with Cratloe, but are there any other outstanding ambitions you would like to fulfill with the club?

To win another hurling would be huge for us. Winning an All-Ireland title with Clare last year was an incredible experience, but in 2009 when we won the county title for the first time we were a young team and you think there's loads more success ahead of you. But four or five years pass before you know it and we have won nothing since. You have to keep focused every year and give it your all or your club career could pass you by.