Colm Collins is a
Gaelic football
Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
manager, associated with
Cratloe GAA club.
Career
Collins is a native of
Kilmihil. He began managing Clare in late 2013 and became the longest-serving inter-county football manager when Mickey Harte left
Tyrone.
Collins led Clare from Division 4 to Division 3 of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
, then to Division 2 where he consolidated his team's position. He led Clare to the
2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qauerter-finals. He stayed on as Clare's manager for 2018. At the end of that year he became the fourth longest-serving manager after Mickey Harte,
Jim Gavin and
Malachy O'Rourke
Malachy O'Rourke is a Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player for the Fermanagh county football team, Fermanagh county team. He has been manager of the senior Tyrone county football team, Tyrone county team since 2024. ...
. At the end of 2019, the third longest, he announced then that he would take time to consider his future after Clare's championship exit. He led Clare to the
2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-finals, when they had the beating of
Roscommon
Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...
.
With his appointment for a tenth season at the end of 2022, Collins became the longest serving inter-county manager in
either code (since
Brian Cody had earlier resigned as
Kilkenny hurling manager).
Collins stepped down as Clare manager when his team exited the championship in June 2023, leaving
Armagh manager
Kieran McGeeney as the longest serving manager in inter-county football.
Personal life
His son,
Podge, is a footballer and hurler. Podge concentrated on the football for 2015. He concentrated on the football for 2021, from '14 up until '16, he did the two teams but only hurling in '17.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Colm
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Gaelic football managers
People from County Clare