'Please leave hurley here' instead of umbrella: Limerickman teaches the Cats

THUD, thud, thud.

John Collins, who had just started teaching in Kilkenny in 2006, wondered what this sound was. Thud, thud, thud. It was loud and constant. He jumped out of his classroom chair to see what all the commotion was about.

"It was a group of students, every one of them had a hurley and sliothar. They were passing it off the wall and catching it as they were walking downtown for lunch. It is a sound I am used to now at this stage. Hurling is a way of life up there," said John.

Indeed, some shops have baskets at the entrance with signs saying "Please leave your hurley here" instead of an umbrella.

The Adare native, domiciled in Doon, is an engineering and design communication graphics teacher in Kilkenny City Vocational School under the Carlow Kilkenny Education Training Board. The school in Kilkenny city shares a campus with the famed hurling institution that is St Kieran’s College.

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John is firmly in black and amber territory but he is a diehard Limerick supporter.

"One of the first matches I was ever at was the day John Fenton scored that wonder goal for Cork against Limerick in 1987. We had a teacher in Adare at the time, a Br Dwane who always told us to pull on the ball and John Fenton did that day,” said John, who is married to Patricia, of St Mary’s Park, and they have two children - Sarah, aged 19, and James, 16.

It is debatable who is the bigger Limerick hurling supporter - John or Patricia.

Whether Limerick are playing in the league or championship you will find the Collins’ in the stand, as well as at Doon GAA games. The couple have a close affiliation with the club, both as members and through John’s involvement with East Limerick Red Cross.

If Limerick do win on Sunday, John says he might be asked by the Kilkenny school if he can arrange a visit from the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

"It’s a distant memory for them at this stage," laughs John.

Joking aside, he says in his 16 years working in Kilkenny everybody he has spoken to has the utmost respect for Limerick hurling.

"They felt we should have won a lot more in the 90s than we achieved. And when they beat us in the final in 2007 it was the closest anybody got to them during that great Kilkenny team’s period of dominance," said John.

One of the perks of the job was he got two half days nearly every year for an All-Ireland homecoming and when the cup came to the school.

In more recent years, he says he never met anybody in Kilkenny who is begrudging of Limerick’s success.

"We’d often say if Limerick wasn’t in the final we’d love to see Waterford do it and they would have had the same approach to us," said John, who has taught current Kilkenny star Adrian Mullen. Former great Joey Holden is a fellow teacher and good friend.

A few WhatsApps have been exchanged with colleagues this week.

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"They were sounding me out for tickets. They beat me to the draw as I was just about to ask them. Kilkenny are waiting in the long grass for us but with John Kiely at the helm we have the right man in the job.

"We haven’t seen a 100% performance from Limerick this year so hopefully they are saving the best for last. If they put in a performance like they have in some of the games we will be crying into our soup," said John.

But let’s hope in late August he will be the happiest teacher in the country to return to school.