8 hours ago
Nathan Collins says crushing Wembley defeat to England helped Ireland to reset
As the clouds of doom hovered above the Ireland squad leaving Wembley last November, it was hard to see any silver lining.
The Boys in Green were on the receiving end of a brutal second-half beating as England drove home their numerical advantage after Liam Scales' red card.
Scoreless at the break, Ireland were under the cosh but holding their own before the floodgates opened as England scored five without reply to leave Ireland dazed.
Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher scored three goals in five manic minutes, before Jarrod Bowen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis added the gloss.
It was a brutal reality check that this Irish team under Heimir Hallgrimsson has a long way to go before they can entertain the notion of qualifying for tournaments.
The relentless hamster wheel that is English club football afforded those bruised Irish players a quick and natural distraction from what had unfolded..
It may have been four long months until the next international game, but they didn't have to dwell on their Wembley woe for too long over the festive period.
But Nathan Collins has revealed how that crushing defeat to England afforded him and his team-mates the opportunity to reset going into an important World Cup year.
Tonight in Luxembourg, Ireland will hope to pick up a third win in four games of 2025, and doing so would extend the unbeaten run to four.
All of which matters, according to Collins, going into September's opening games of the quick-fire World Cup campaign, against Hungary and Armenia.
Reflecting on that chastening day at Wembley, Collins said last night: "For me personally, it probably created a bit more hunger.
'Especially more hunger and desire to do better for Ireland. That one hurt a lot of people and affected a lot of people.
'So it was nice to have a little break away from people, reset and go again. The hurt in the dressing room after, it was not a nice place.
'But for me, it created a new hunger. It definitely reset me, to want to do better and improve for the next camp. It might have worked in a good way for us."
Ireland are coming from such a low base that any sign of progress this year was going to represent a step in the right direction.
And the back to back wins over Bulgaria in the March Nations League playoff set solid foundations in that respect.
Friday's 1-1 draw against Senegal was another positive, even if Ireland failed to see out a winning position, and victory in Luxembourg would keep the momentum going.
'I feel the performance against Senegal was a really big step,' said Brentford centre-back Collins. 'We were so comfortable in the game, so comfortable in our shape.
'We performed to a very high degree and it's about pushing that, growing that and getting better. We're building a squad and players are challenging other players.'
Collins, who played every minute of Brentford's Premier League campaign, continued: 'I just think there's a bit more of a base now in the team, a bit of solidity.
'Last summer, it was a bit all up in the air, wasn't it? Just everything regarding Ireland at that time. But now the way the squad is, the way we have our manager here, everything is solidified, we're building our base. We're growing with that, we're working from that and we're trying to create momentum for us to get better.'
Identifying areas where Ireland must improve is also important, according to Collins who said: 'The chances we conceded against Senegal, we could have defended better.
"If we want to get to the next stage we have to see out games like that. We're definitely good enough to go score another goal but also not concede or give them chances.
'Tonight is going to be another tough challenge, but it's another game for us to get better as a team and try to get another result to keep us going.'
But Collins knows that Ireland will have to pick up some big results in the World Cup campaign, if they are serious about reaching the finals.
The Ireland squad gathered around the TV on Sunday evening to watch group rivals Portugal clinch the Nations League title after a penalty shootout win over Spain.
'We know how good their squad is and their depth of players is unbelievable,' said Collins. :But if we do what the manager wants from us, we'll create our own problems against Portugal. We're a completely different team to Spain and will create completely different problems and defend in a different way.
'We'll frustrate them in ways that they won't like. We know how good they'll be, but they have to know how tough a game it will be for them against us'.
