At club level he played with Ilen Rovers divisional side Carbery and was also a member of the Cork senior football team.
[1] Collins first played Gaelic football at juvenile and underage levels with the Ilen Rovers club.
He also lined out as a schoolboy with St. Fachtna's De La Salle College in Skibbereen and, after winning consecutive Corn Uí Mhuirí titles, won a Hogan Cup medal in 1991.
[2][3] As a student at University College Dublin, Collins captained the senior team to the Sigerson Cup title in 1996.
He won National League and Munster Championship titles in 1999, however, Cork were beaten by Meath in that year's All-Ireland final.