Nathan Collins reveals embarrassing loss that ‘affected a lot of people' gave Ireland star ‘new hunger' for World Cup

The Irish Sun

10-06-2025

NATHAN COLLINS believes Ireland's winter of discontent can make for a glorious summer and beyond.
Captain
qualifiers
.
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2
Ireland were hammered 5-0 by England
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
2
Nathan Collins believed it has stood to them
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Confidence is rising among the squad that they can go all the way in the qualifiers after wins
home and away
over Bulgaria and
But
winter
.
And that agony came after
The defender said: 'That one hurt and affected a lot of people.
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'It was
nice
to have a little break away from people, reset and go again.
'If we had a good result there and there was a long wait, we would have to wait. The hurt in the
dressing room
after . . . it was not a nice place to be in.
'It created a new hunger for me. It definitely resetted me to want to do better and improve for the
next
camp. It might
work
in a good way for us.'
That
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And that continued a grim few years at international level with plenty of disappointing results.
One of those included an
'Don't say that on camera' - Nathan Collins' admission about Caoimhin Kelleher's move leaves Heimir in stitches
Not that Collins — who was called up to the Ireland squad subsequently — looks too far into the past.
He said: 'Football, people, managers and teams change. You just have to reflect on that.
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'It is about what works for us and we can't have that on our mind.
'We are here with fresh faces. It is a fresh and new game.'
GOING WELL
Ireland face Luxembourg with a different mindset and are full of confidence after two wins and a draw to date since that
Wembley
woe.
And Collins believes everything is going well ahead of the World Cup campaign which starts against
Aviva
Stadium on September 6.
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He said: 'I feel the performance against Senegal was a really big step.
'We were so comfortable in the game and in our shape.
'We performed to a very high degree and it is about pushing on, growing that and getting better.
'I just think there's a bit more of a base now in the team. There's a bit of solidity in it.
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'It was a bit all up in the air last
summer
, wasn't it? Everything regarding Ireland was at the time.
'But the way the squad is, the way we have our manager here, everything is solidified now.
'We're building our base, growing and we're working from that. We're trying to create momentum for us to get better. We have time to practice together again and keep creating stuff.
'If the qualifiers were today, I would be comfortable enough.
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'We know the basics of what the manager wants but also know that he wants more from us.
'But it's not today and we can do more to get better and prepare.'
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
And the former Wolves man acknowledged there are still areas where Icelander Hallgrimsson wants to see improvements from his troops.
One area in particular is seeing games out, as Ireland have kept just one clean sheet in Hallgrimsson's nine games in charge to date.
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Collins added: 'We could have defended better and we could have been more proactive with the chances we conceded against Senegal.
'If we want to get to the next stage we have to see games like that out.
'I think we are definitely good enough. We're good enough to go score another goal but also not concede or give them chances.
'They are the little things where we can grow.
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'There are loads of individual things as defensive and attacking units where we can grow together.
'Taking away from the last game, we've got to take our chances, see a game out, be solid — winning games like that will be massive come the World Cup.'
Ireland's group is a tricky one with Hungary, Armenia and top seeds
But Collins said that Ireland must make sure they are confident going into the campaign.
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He said: 'We didn't need to see Sunday night to know how good
'But if we can do what we can control and the manager wants from us we will create our own problems against Portugal.
'We're a completely different team to
Spain
and will create different problems and defend in a different way.
'We'll frustrate them in ways they won't like. We know the standard and how good they'll be.
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'But they have to know how tough a game it will be for them against us.'