Collins is the latest Galtee Mountain Boy

By Stephen Barry

Just like 2003, when Galtee Rovers’ last Tipperary minor hurler was donning blue & gold, they have again provided the captain of a Munster-winning side.

23 years separate David Morrissey raising the trophy at Semple Stadium and Conor Collins following in his footsteps up Ardán Ó Riain last month.

“It sounds like a long gap, but in, historically, a football club like ours, you’d take one every 20 years,” says Morrissey, who now serves as club chairperson.

Morrissey played in four consecutive Munster final victories over Cork, completing a three-in-a-row at minor level before claiming the U21 title alongside his brother, Andrew, in 2004.

Off the top of his head, he runs through the list of Tipp minors from the Bansha-based club across the past half-century or so: Neil Fleming (1973), Michael ‘Foxy’ Grace (‘85), Chris Byron (‘88), Pádraig Moloney (‘92), Michael Collins (‘93 & ‘94), and Colin Morrissey (‘97 & ‘98).

“Our older generation of statesmen would really be proud of Conor,” Morrissey added.

“They'd see it over the years where we wouldn't be producing a hurler of that level going back a long time ago.

“It's a great pride to get a captain, and to get to this stage with an All-Ireland final is huge.”

Those who did make the grade inspired the next generation. Michael Collins – a Munster minor medallist from 1993 – is Conor’s dad.

“It was no surprise his career took off the way it did,” says Morrissey.

“Conor's own father, Michael, was a serious hurler himself.

“Between having good genetics, the parents doing the work at home, and then being a product of Galtee Rovers, a lot of good men training below in the club and a good standard of coaching, all that eventually feeds through into the player that we see today in Conor.

“When you get a player like that coming through, it doesn't happen by accident.”

David Morrissey identifies the latest Premier captain’s skill level and wrist work as his standout traits from a young age. Once he started to fill out, he always had the attributes to make a fine hurler, first breaking onto the Tipp minor team last year.

“The real pleasing thing is Conor has nearly been either in the shout for man of the match, or gotten it, up along through the championship,” says Morrissey.

“He was excellent again in the All-Ireland semi-final. He was brilliant in the second half of that Munster final, when Limerick came strong against them.

“Especially with the way the game has going, Limerick teams in particular seem to create these open spaces, and you're in big, big trouble as a corner-back.

“In that second half of the Munster final, there was acres of space that opened up in front of Conor's man, but Conor still got there. He still got that flick in, he still got that ball away, and he never got turned, which was absolutely brilliant to see.

“Because the pressure is on as a captain. You can't say it otherwise. There is that bit of added pressure to perform, that pressure to hold your man at bay, keep him scoreless; you have all these things in your head.

“Conor, being a corner-back, is normally picking up the opposition’s star forward as a man-maker. So, you have that double-whammy of pressure that comes on, but he has stood up to the task immensely.

“Every report in the newspaper, Conor has been mentioned all the way through. He's been brilliant. If you go back through the stats, he's been taken for very few scores, which tells the story in itself.”

Morrissey played alongside current manager James Woodlock in that 2003 minor final, when future soccer star Shane Long bagged a brace to complete the treble against Cork.

Earlier this year, he received a call from Woodlock seeking a pitch for a challenge match against Wexford. It meant that Collins achieved the distinction of captaining his county in his own club ground.

The Galtee Rovers juvenile teams called in to watch. On Saturday, they will be in Limerick to witness an even bigger occasion as Collins bids to become the third minor from the club to win an All-Ireland, following Ned Barry (1932) and Seán McGovern (‘52).

“When Mick Collins was a minor in ‘93, I was only eight years of age. I was looking up to these guys,” says Morrissey.

“Colin Morrissey as well. That's where the kids of our club are now.

“My own kids are only six, but the under-8s and under-10s and under-12s will all be there and they'll be looking up to Conor, thinking, ‘That's what I want.’

“If only one child can take something great out of Conor being captain, that'll be brilliant.”