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14 | AUTUMN 2020 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie such a lengthy stint apart, all official online training was cancelled. According to Collins, it was enjoyable to turn her full attention to Fox-Cab's championship aspirations, but that getting back into the Dublin fold also lifted her spirits. "It definitely was good to meet up again. It has been six years on the trot with this team and I spend nine months of the year with them. "There was a massive gap in me not being around them, not having seen them for six months, they are some of your best friends, you miss them when you don't see them. They are the people you see most out of everybody. "There were a few Zoom calls like everybody had in an attempt to try and keep that connection. But you are not able to replicate it through a computer, it's not the same as being together and training. It has been really great to get back. To have INTERVIEW a September where it was still nice, to be out training at the back of DCU felt like any other year." Three All-Ireland wins for Dublin came on the heels of three defeats in the final, so in Bohan's fourth year in charge the players have built up an almost telepathic understanding on the field. None of that has diminished since March, says Collins. "I didn't find we lost anything really. I did have one slip up when we were warming up and we were doing well and I shouted 'Good job Fox-Cab'. I had to remember where I was, that I wasn't there with the club, I'm back with Dublin now. "You are used to being away from each other for small periods of time, the three months at the end of the year or the month in the club season, so we managed to click back into it straight away. "When something is such as massive part of your life, a massive constant and then all of a sudden it is turned off one day, it is really tough, but it's great to be back." With a vast array of silverware to reflect on following a stunningly successful second half of the last decade, Collins was finally awarded with the All Star she deserved following last year's season. That individual honour coincided with her permanent switch to full back, but after years of versatility operating across the backline, she is relishing the 'mental' test of being the defensive anchor. "I've been a bit of a versatile player when it comes to the defensive end of the field and I did have a good bit of experience at full back throughout the years – maybe not for a full consistent season though. "But it's something I enjoy. I think full back – for me anyway – is a much more mental challenge that a physical one. "The mental challenges of playing as a full back is that you're the last line of defence. You need to anticipate whether or not you can attack the ball, win it outright or if you'll allow your player to get it, and then hold her up and not let her around you. "It's one of those positions that you have to make split second decisions. Make the wrong one you are the last man back. It could be at the cost of a goal. "That decision making takes a while and you have to judge her as a person that you're marking. it's something I'm still learning but I really enjoy it." COLLINS ON WATERFORD Waterford were actually the last game we played before everything got pulled in March. I think it was the Thursday after we played Waterford that everyone was told to start working from home. They are our most recent opponent that we have played in a competitive fixture. They gave us a right run out down in Dungarvan. We managed to come away with the win in the end. They are a fast team – that's the big thing that sticks in my mind from playing Waterford, they are very speedy. COLLINS ON SUMMER FOOTBALL WITH FOXROCK-CABINTEELY? I've massively enjoyed the club scene this year. I think it was a real refreshing summer for me. For my entire Senior career pretty much I have been in with Dublin. So I have never really had a proper run of just just being back with the club girls for more than a month straight. It was really nice to do that. I was just delighted to get back and have anything at all. Kilmacud Crokes are a team that have been getting stronger and stronger every year. Not having met them in a league game or anything this year, we were going into a county final not really knowing where we stood against each other. So to come out of it with a win and to win six in a row was brilliant. COLLINS ON HER ALL STAR WIN Yeah it was great to get an All Star. It's always lovely to get one in a year you win an All-Ireland Final as well. It feels like a bit of a cherry on the cake. For me, I've always said if there was ever a decision to be made between winning an All Star and playing in an All-Ireland Final...I think we know every time what every player on the pitch would take. But all the same, it was lovely to get and I'm delighted to have it. COLLINS ON HER INTER COUNTY DEBUT... I remember my debut pretty well, I was absolutely terrified. I came into the panel pretty late in 2012. I debuted against Kerry in an All-Ireland quarter final playing a kind of tracking wing-forward position. I don't know if I lasted that long on the pitch in that match actually, and unfortunately we didn't come away with the win. It was a tough day out, I was probably a little bit naive back then. I hadn't played inter county at any grade for two years at that point and possibly didn't rise to occasion on that day.