Ballinhassig captain Ger Collins: Winning is infectious, we'll celebrate this one

Captain Ger Collins couldn’t have dreamt of a better performance as he helped Ballinhassig to Co-Op SuperStores PIHC glory on Sunday afternoon.

The Blues defeated Ballincollig in the final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on a scoreline of 2-22 to 1-19.

The Carrigdhoun men were deserving victors as they beat the Village for a second time in this championship having also defeated them by six points in the opening group game back in August.

“Unbelievable, we started the year with a goal and it’s just so satisfying that we followed through on that and achieved it,” Collins says post-match.

“We have been knocking on the door over the last number of years, but we’ve never pushed on, so we’re so happy.

“We had obstacles in the way throughout the year, I suppose. We knew when we had those setbacks that the fellas who were stepping up and coming in were going to contribute and I think, look, we had huge faith in those fellas coming in.

“The lads that got injured are big players for us, but we were very confident today with the fellas that came in. They did a job for us.” 

Ballinhassig were playing against a slight wind that was present down the Páirc in the opening 30 minutes. They led by a point at half-time and they were still a point clear 15 minutes from time.

They ended up winning by six points. It was 11 points at one stage late on.

“We spoke about it previously, no matter what stage of the game, we’d always keep doing what we were doing and being relentless in our approach,” Collins said.

“Today was no different and I suppose when it was needed most, I think we stuck to that approach and it’s so satisfying that we did that.

“It didn’t really bother us to have been the underdogs, to be honest. Whether we were favourites or underdogs or whatever in any game, look, we didn’t really feed too much into that.

“We focused on ourselves throughout the year. It was no different today and look, it’s just unbelievable to win this. There’s a crop of players there and there’s a crop of underage players that have never seen Ballinhassig win a trophy. 

"It’s just unbelievable to give those youngsters coming through in the club something to look up to. It’s infectious in terms of winning championships.” 

Ballinhassig have won this grade for a third time, 2005, 2012 and now 2025. The Blues return to the senior ranks for the first time since 2013. It was helped by Collins’ 1-11 over the course of the hour.

“Look, when you play sport you want to win. Even as a young player, I was here watching Ballinhassig win the county back in 2012. You want to achieve things. You want to win things with your club.

“We’re so happy that we were able to win a trophy for the club today. It’s obviously nice to contribute to the group. It’s a huge team effort. Everyone is just working hard for each other. 

"We’ll enjoy this. We’ll celebrate it. These things don’t come around often, so we’ll definitely enjoy this one.” Collins concluded.