It wasn't long after the final whistle in Lodz on Tuesday night when man of the match Nathan Collins reached for his phone.
Not to search for videos of his sensational solo goal.
No, the first thing on Collins’s agenda was to contact Burnley’s strength and conditioning coaches.
“He was asking, ‘What’s my plan for the next two or three weeks? Do I take a full week’s rest, do I start back running?’. He was already planning,” said his dad David.
“After a match like that you’d think he’s out drinking champagne, but that’s not him.
“He was getting his plans in place for pre-season - what date he’s back, how long does he take off, does he take a complete rest?
“He wanted his programme sent onto him.”
Collins’ immediate focus on next season will come as no surprise to those who know him from his days at Cherry Orchard.
His dad, an ex-Liverpool, Oxford United and Shelbourne defender, coached him through the age levels at the famous Dublin schoolboy club.
He remembers the dedication that brought his son to Stoke, then to the Premier League with Burnley and, most recently, the senior international stage.
“He always wanted to go [to England]. At a very early age he told me, I’m leaving,” said David.
“You could see where his mind was when he was in primary school. He was gone. He always wants the next level.
“He outgrew us at Cherry Orchard. He outgrew me at 12 or 13.
“He was putting me under pressure, asking me for video analysis, strength and conditioning, this and that, whether our style of play was good enough.
“I’d say, ‘Woah, hang on a minute, we’re only training here a couple of nights a week, it’s not a full-time job’.”
In reality, however, it was for David, who was under serious pressure to get home from his day job at Alexandra College to bring his son training.
“Nathan was very driven at a very early age,” he recalled. “I’d be coming home and I might have to ring and say, ‘Nathan, I’ll be late getting home’.
“At a very early age, he’d say, ‘That’s okay, I’ll get the bus down’.
“‘The bus down to Ballyfermot?’.
“He’d say, ‘I’ll meet you at the West County [Hotel]’.
“So he used to get the bus and I’d have to rush to meet him.
“He’d be walking up the road and he’d say, ‘Listen, I can’t be late for training, I can’t afford to miss any of this’.
“This kid was only a baby. He was nine or 10 at that stage.
“You have a nine-year-old now and you wouldn’t let them on the bus by themselves, but Nathan just wasn’t having it. He was very determined very early.
“He’d be in his gear and he’d be walking out into the garden. I’d say I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes, but he’d say, ‘Grand, I’ll walk on ahead’.
“I’d say, ‘Why are you walking ahead, I’m driving you’. But he was just making sure I wouldn’t have him late. He didn’t want to miss a minute.
“They were the quirky things about him that made you think, this fellow is a bit different.”
So what about Collins senior? What lessons could he pass on not only to Nathan, but to his older son Josh, who played League of Ireland for UCD and Waterford, and to daughter Keavy, who plays Gaelic football for Confey and Kildare Minors?
“I went very early to Liverpool, 14 of 15 years of age,” he said.
“In those days Liverpool were at the peak of their powers. They were European Cup winners, you had Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen, absolutely incredible players.
“I went over there and had a fabulous time. I had five years there, in and around the first-team, but never really getting fully through.
“There were changes of managers. You are doing really well and then Kenny takes over. He’s running it and you’re flying, and then he goes and things change.
“It’s been a similar thing for Nathan. He had five different managers at Stoke - Mark Hughes, Paul Lambert, Michael O’Neill, Nathan Jones and Gary Rowett.
“Now he’s had Sean Dyche and Michael Jackson at Burnley, and now he’s got Vincent Kompany, a legend. What a guy and what a career.
“By all accounts he did an amazing job at Anderlecht. You would think he’s going to come into Burnley and do the very same thing.
“But as a young boy you are trying to break into a team. In Nathan’s position, you break into the team and then the manager gets the sack.
“What happens? The young boy is bombed back down to the bottom of the list. It’s a very difficult process.
“Some players go through their careers with one or two managers, but Nathan has had a lot of battles.”
He added: “I had great times at Liverpool and then I went to Wigan for a while, and then Oxford, where I played what would nowadays be Championship football.
“I had some great years there and then came home and played a bit of League of Ireland.
“Football then was different to nowadays. The first time you go away, you wouldn’t see your dad for six or eight months.
“The flights were crazy expensive so you’d get a boat over. I’d phone home once a week, Sunday at six o’clock.
“There wouldn’t be a phone in the house, so you’d head to the pub across the road to use their phone. You’d be sending letters home and then you’d wait for a letter back.
“You were very much thrown over there and left to your own devices.”
When it comes to advice from his dad, it’s very much a case of do what I say, not what I did.
“We used to come home at the end of each season and have eight weeks off with nothing,” said David.
“I remember when [ex-Australia international] Craig Johnston first came to Liverpool, he brought in his own sandwiches and everyone was looking at him like he had two heads.
“He was having his salad sandwiches and all the rest of us were eating sausages and beans.
“It’s a whole lifestyle. Nathan would be in there at half-eight or nine o’clock and he wouldn’t leave until four. We’d have been gone at 12.30.
“I remember going for two years where I decided I wouldn’t eat before matches. We’d have a match at three o’clock and I’d starve myself.
“Nobody ever said to me, you need some petrol for the tank.
“Now Nathan has his breakfast and lunch at the club, and he loves cooking. He’d have the dietary requirements all out on a sheet when he’s cooking.
“He’s just incredible. The detail they go into now is so amazing.
“He is insatiable in his desire to find different areas to improve.”
And that was evident once again on Tuesday night when Collins’ thoughts, in the aftermath of his wonder-goal against Ukraine, turned straight to preparations for next season.
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