Roscommon will be without full-back Neil Collins for the rest of the Championship after he underwent surgery today on his hamstring.
The Rossies were dealt a blow in the lead-up to the drawn Connacht final with Galway when the Castlerea native was ruled out of the provincial decider after suffering an injury in training, but the hamstring tear was worse than first feared and now will play no further part in their campaign
Speaking to The Jones’ Road podcast from Santry where he was about to undergo surgery, Collins said it is a set-back but remains philosophical on the injury.
“Unfortunately that is the end of my season,” he told listeners. “It was a tough one to take, but I have been lucky enough.
“I have been playing for nine years and I’ve never actually gotten injured. It wasn’t the best timing but I have had a good run of it so far."
The 25-year-old picked up knock in the nine-point defeat over Sligo in the Connacht semi-final, but that was only a knee strain and unrelated to the current setback.
He admits the first few days were primarily focussed on getting his head around the fact his season was over.
“I was at home trying to soak in what had happened. It was a really tough couple of days initially, especially as I hadn’t experienced anything as extreme as it before.”
Donie Smith earned the Rossies a replay with a free in the third minute of added-time when the Tribesmen appeared to be edging to victory in awful conditions at PearseStadium.
Kevin Walsh’s side led by two points as the finish-line approached, but Cathal Cregg and Smith got the final scores of a game that was a dogged, defensive display from both sides.
Collins believes the inexperience of both sides, and Galway’s tactical set-up were factors in a game that struggled to spark to life for long periods.
“I don’t think we could go gung-ho and push up on Galway and give them space to counter-attack,” he said.
“It was quite a defensive game, they were giving us all our kick-outs and they were getting a lot of their own. That allowed both team to set-up their defensive strategy.
“I think a lot of it came down to a lot of lads playing in their first Connacht final, on both teams and it was a slightly nervous game.”
