Critics washed over Cork netminder who now enjoys best run of form for Rebels

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

It's just over 12 months ago that Cork were on the brink of Championship elimination and, for many, Patrick Collins was the fall guy.
They had lost their opening two games to Waterford and Clare and while the concession of five goals in the course of doing so was less than ideal, Collins's restarts were more where the problem lay.
The management team hadn't been slow to make changes to the side after the Waterford loss but having kept faith with Collins, there were calls for him to be shipped out for the pivotal visit of Limerick.
'I'd be good at keeping the outside noise out,' says the Ballinhassig man. 'I wouldn't take much heed to what people are saying or what is being said about what way we are playing or what way the puckouts are going. I know myself what way they are going.
'Again, it's just to work on the different bits at training as best you can and improve each time you go out.
'They are not going to be perfect every day, but you are always trying to get better, you are always trying to make some sort of tweaks here and there.
'The first two games, yeah they would have been down, but when it went to the Limerick game, things started to improve as time went on.'
Pat Ryan kept faith with Collins and was rewarded with a near flawless puckout performance as Cork pulled off a sensational win to turn around a season that would end in the All-Ireland final and an All Star nomination for Collins.
'Yeah, there's a great satisfaction off it,' he says of that Limerick display. 'That's working towards trying to be perfect.
'Not always going to be perfect, but you are working towards that and when you do get nights like that, of course you are going to be delighted.
'But then a week later the emotion could be different so it is not something you can rest on. You can think it is brilliant one week and another week then you lose your focus on it.
'As you play games, opposition are going to set up to try and counteract what you are trying to do and what have been working.
'It is a challenge, really, of what other teams are going to try to do and going to try to bring, and that's another interesting feature of the position, and what then can you bring to counteract that and find a way around it.'
The 28-year-old grew up in an era when the standard and, indeed, profile of goalkeepers shot up.
'I would have watched Brendan Cummins growing up, Damien Fitzhenry, Davy Fitz, Donal Óg [Cusack], and of course then in the environment I am in, I spent a few years under Anthony Nash, and watching other current goalkeeper such as Nickie Quaid, and lads like that.
'You always looking at keepers to see what they do in different situations and you hopefully take a piece from each one of them and bring it to your own game.'
A garda in Anglesea Street in Cork, perhaps the steadier line of form that Collins is now enjoying is somewhat linked to a change in his work routine. Having initially worked four 12-hour shifts back-to-back, a pair of days and nights each, he now has a Monday to Friday desk job in the station.
'The opportunity came up and I took it. While I am playing, it is the perfect scenario to be in, really. It is 9-5 majority of the time.
'When you are fitting in matches and training, along with the shift work, you really have to be aware of your body. But once you find your rhythm and what suits your kind of way of doing things, it just becomes the norm.
'I would have worked the night before a game, but there were times where I would have played a League game at 4pm on a Sunday and you are going to work at 7pm that Sunday night for 12 hours. I did that for the first few years.'