By John Harrington

The familiar figure of Patrick Collins will stand between the sticks for Cork when they face Limerick in this evening’s Bord Gáis Energy Munster U-21 Hurling Final.

Incredibly, this is the Ballinhassig club-man’s fifth year in a row as Cork’s U-21 goalkeeper.

Collins has the sort of unflappable demeanour you’d want in a goalkeeper, so he doesn’t quite see this as the remarkable achievement it clearly is.

“Some people say it's a great achievement alright, but the way I see it age is only a number, I don't see it as a huge thing at all, he says.

“I was first called up by Ger Fitz from Midleton and was delighted to get the call, it was a great honour and privilege.

“My first year at U-21 I still had another two years of minor to play. I came in as a young fella and I had to learn and I'm still learning a lot.

“I suppose I've matured and I'd like to think I've improved over the years and gotten used  to the whole set-up and inter-county scene.”

Goalkeeping is clearly in the blood as far as the Collins family are concerned. Patrick’s father Pat was a goalkeeper too, his older brother Matthew played minor, U-21 and intermediate for Cork, and his younger brother Ger is the current Cork minor goalkeeper.

Collins has also been a member of the Cork senior hurling panel for the last three years and his team there as understudy to Anthony Nash has accelerated his development as a goalkeeper.

“100 per cent, there's no doubt about it,” he says. “The last three years I've been an understudy to Anthony and he's been great for my development. Everything he does I take the key points from it and try to put it into practice.

“There's no better keeper in the country to be learning from. We have a great goalkeeper coach with Cork too, Donal O'Mahony from Bishopstown, and I've learned an awful lot from him too, he's been excellent."

Cork will go into this evening’s Munster Final against Limerick as underdogs, but have been buoyed by the nature of their semi-final win over Waterford which came courtesy of a last-gasp Declan Dalton penalty after a helter-skelter game of hurling.

“Yeah, definitely,” says Collins. “The intensity was good, the work-rate was good. Things were slipping away towards the end, but luckily Deccie stepped up and scored a lovely penalty.

“Lads are focused and we came out on the right side, luckily, but a different challenge is coming to us on Wednesday night and we know that. It's going to be a ferocious battle. It's going to be a difficult one.

“There's no doubt but that we will be underdogs going into Wednesday night. Limerick have been very impressive in the first two games.

“Going down to the Gaelic Grounds, we're facing them on their home patch. We're lucky we came through against Waterford, but this is a different opposition, a different challenge, a different style of game.

“We'll go in as underdogs and we'll see what happens.”

The closest Collins came to silverware previously at this level was when Cork were beaten in the 2014 Munster Final, so after five years of service it would be nice to earn a provincial medal in his final campaign at U-21 level.

“100 per cent it would, there's no question about it,” says Collins. “But come Wedesday night that won't be coming into my mind, the five years or whatever.

“It's just another game in my mind and I'll approach it the way I do all the others.”

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