'The bar is high' - Clare veteran manager Colm Collins raring to go

He's now officially the longest-serving senior inter-county manager in hurling and football, but Colm Collins undertook a lengthy review process before opting to commit to the Banner for another year.

"I'm there since 2014," he told RTÉ Sport. "And it’s always been a one-year term that I've taken.

"It was the same again this winter. The players reviewed the seasons and if they came back with any negative stuff I was gone, I would have stepped down no problem.

"Equally, it was the management’s view that the appetite was still there among ourselves and the players to go forward and improve for another year.

"And then I actually had to get offered the job again. As I say, I have never taken more than a year at a time so if change was ever needed, I would gladly have stepped away.

"The final thing is that I am involved with some very good people here and I enjoy this job as much as I have ever done. Those are the reasons why I decided to come back."

Having retained their Division 2 status and reached the All-Ireland quarter-final, was there a temptation to walk away, perhaps wondering if the ceiling had been reached?

"No, once we all decided to come back the challenge is to now challenge the Division 1 teams," he states.

"We are under no illusion as to the amount of hard work that faces us. The bar is high. When I started in 2014, we were miles away (Division 4) from where we currently are, but there is absolutely no point in taking your foot off the pedal now. We will go back and keep driving for improvement.

"We will work on the things we didn’t get right this year. That means working a lot harder. All of us involved have to up our game."

Collins reflects on his nine years in charge and feels the inter-county game is now amateur in