A MASSIVE relief – that’s how Jack Collins describes Ilen Rovers’ win against Boherbue in their opening game of the McCarthy Insurance Group Intermediate A Football Championship on July 26th.

The context is everything. Incredibly, it was Ilen’s first championship victory since September 3rd, 2022. Rovers’ winless streak had stretched beyond 1,000 days, including eight straight championship defeats and two successive relegations.

They needed a day like the one they enjoyed in Inchigeela, beating Boherbue 1-12 to 0-12. It stopped the slide.

‘It was a massive relief,’ says Collins.

‘We knew we had the quality to win that game and had put in a lot of work. We did put a bit of pressure on ourselves to get that win, so it was a major relief to get the monkey off the back.’

The Ilen defender is adamant that the result signalled a turning point for this group.

‘Winning is a habit, but losing is a habit too – and it’s tougher to break,’ the 25-year-old says.

‘For a few years we needed a win to turn the tide, but we had to wait until this year to get it against Boherbue. That was a big turning point.’

Jack Collins.

It was the start Ilen needed in their first season at intermediate A level, sparking a run that will bring them to Páirc Uí Chaoimh for Sunday’s county final. But on a deeper level, it was a clutch moment for the mentality of a group that had suffered in recent seasons. Captain Damien O’Sullivan has admitted he felt the misery would never end, so for Ilen players like Collins – who made his senior debut in 2018 – to feel the glow of victory again meant a lot.

‘A major part of why we all play is to win and compete at the highest level we can,’ he says.

‘We all want this to be enjoyable, and it is. The winning is great, but there’s also a buzz in knowing we’ve put in so much hard work this year – from a good pre-season to a solid league campaign. There’s satisfaction in that hard work too,’ he adds – straight from the Paul O’Donovan playbook, fittingly enough for a man from the same parish who also thrives on the grind.

‘This year we’ve had bigger numbers at training, and that creates a buzz. To see the likes of Shane Carey, who struggled with injury, back – and Kyle O’Sullivan training again after his cruciate – that’s great to see.’

There’s enjoyment, too, in sharing a season like this with friends he’s soldiered alongside since underage. Collins won a Carbery U21A football title with Ilen in 2018, and linking that success to the current team are the likes of Dermot Hegarty, Aaron O’Sullivan, Joseph Hickey, Barry Collins, Paddy O’Driscoll, Peter O’Driscoll, Sean Minihane and Emmet Hourihane.

‘The likes of Daniel Coakley, Denis O’Driscoll, Adrian O’Driscoll and Ciarán O’Dwyer are only a couple of years younger, so we have a good cohort in the 23-to-27 bracket, and we were probably missing that over the last few years,’ Collins explains.

‘When our age group came up first, when we were 18 or 19, there might have been a gap to the more experienced fellas – whereas now it’s a really balanced age profile. There are lots of lads in their mid-20s, and that helps too.’

Go back further and Collins was part of an Ilen team that won three U14 county titles in a row from 2012 to ’14. Now he gets his first shot at an adult county final.

‘It was all about keeping the shoulder to the wheel during the tough years. We knew it would turn at some stage, and thankfully it has happened this year. We’ve put a few wins together, and now we want to keep that momentum going,’ adds the maths teacher – who’s hoping the sums add up to an Ilen triumph this weekend.