Everything that Nathan Collins touched this time last year turned to gold.
He had been waiting in the wings for a meaningful Ireland breakthrough ever since his debut off the bench in a friendly win over Qatar towards the end of 2021.
And the defender duly announced his arrival as an Irish international in style with four stellar performances in June’s four-game Nations League window.
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‘That’ stunning solo goal against Ukraine elevated him to new heights and he became Ireland’s most expensive player of all time on the back of it.
He secured a €24 million move to Wolves and started the Premier League season as one of their first-choice centre-backs.
Apart from serving a three-game suspension for a kung-fun challenge on Manchester City’s Jack Grealish, he played every game.
But then, not long after Julen Lopetegui replaced Bruno Lage as manager, Collins found himself frozen out of the side for the second-half of the season.
In a fight against relegation, older players were preferred to the 22-year-old and he made just seven substitute appearances.
But in a timely boost for Stephen Kenny, Collins was recalled to play the full 90-minutes in Wolves’ final two games having already dodged the drop.
In Turkey yesterday, where Ireland are preparing for Friday’s clash with Greece in Athens, Collins was asked to assess his year of highs and lows.
“It was a tough season,” he said. “Football is an awkward game, isn’t it? Stuff does not always work out, but the main objective was not to get relegated.
“There are times to think of yourself and there are times to be a team player. I wasn’t playing as much as I’d like but the club needed me to support the lads.
“I talked to (Lopetegui) a few times. It was never fully explained but he wanted a bit more experience and that was his decision.
“My job was to work harder and get myself back into the team. Who I am, I’ll never give up and I fought as hard as I could.
“When Lopetegi came in I thought I was playing really well, and at Christmas we got a few good results but he just wanted a change. There was nothing I could do.”
Collins continued: “The thing is I’ve experienced it before, coming in at Stoke and Burnley I didn’t play at the start.
“This time it was flipped around, I played at the start and didn’t play at the end. It’s just character development, knowing I wanted to play and having that hunger to.
“It was obviously a frustrating time but I had good people behind me, good backing and they were honest with me, saying I was just unfortunate.”
While Collins started in the season-ending games against Everton and Arsenal, he isn’t getting carried away.
Wolves were safe and had nothing to play for so Lopetegui was dishing out minutes.
Collins signed off the club campaign without speaking to the Spaniard about if and where he fits into his first-team plans next season.
“He’s a good guy, hard working, honest, and a good man. He’s Spanish and they are hard to read sometimes, they don’t give off a lot.
“But since he has come in, he has helped the team. Look, he kept us up.”
For the next week, Collins switches his attention to keeping Ireland in the hunt for Euro 2024 qualification.
Kenny’s squad have been here in Turkey since last Monday, acclimatising for Athens ahead of their flight to the Greek capital tomorrow and Friday’s key qualifier.
While Collins enjoyed a summer to remember last year, it was bittersweet too as Ireland suffered a shock defeat away to Armenia in the opening game.
Kenny’s men wilted in the stifling Yerevan heat.
But Collins feels the manager has left no stone unturned here in Turkey where the Ireland players have struck a good balance in their work, rest and play.
Collins said: “It’s been enjoyable to be fair. The first week there’s been intense training with a bit of relaxation as well.
“Everyone has been bonding over a few games. We’ve had pool tournaments, table tennis tournaments, people playing water polo altogether.
“We got a bit of golf in for the first week.I did good, but Mark Travers ran away with it. Not a bad player.
‘In pool, I struggle, it’s not my game! There's a few (sharks) - Jeff Hendrick, James McClean. Gav Bazunu could be up there as well.”
The squad also sat down together to watch the Kevin Moran documentary ‘Codebreaker’.
But Collins, who had a vested interest as a former GAA player of note in his youth, added: “Now it’s down to business for the match.
“The prep is really crucial. If we went to Greece without any [warm weather] prep it would be a shock.
“This camp is ideal as we’ve had a lot of time together, a lot of time to get back up to speed. It’s rare you get this time in an international camp so we’ve taken full advantage.”
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