A LIFE LESSON: if your son has the sliver of a chance of making his Premier League debut tomorrow afternoon, book the flight. 

Thus Dave Collins didn’t miss Nathan stepping out for Burnley against Norwich City last Saturday. 

“I told my dad the night before that there was a chance”, says Nathan. “I didn’t say I was 100 percent [starting], I said there was a possibility. He was straight on the first flight over the next morning. I think he woke up at about five in the morning and got on the next flight, jumped on it straight away.” 

Regular centre-back Ben Mee was injured in training on Friday, and it was unclear whether he would be fit for the following day. Hence Collins’ call to his Dad, and it was made worthwhile when Sean Dyche phoned Collins to tell him he was in. 

“I was buzzing”, he remembers. “I was jumping in my car but then I had to get ready again.” 

The game finished goalless, and as he had been called up to the Irish squad for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan, Collins flew home with his father and the family toasted the milestone. 

“I can’t thank [my parents] enough for what they’ve done for me from when I was a kid. They’ve done everything possible for me. To go home that same night and share it with them all was a real good thing.”

Collins’ father was a footballer himself. He came through the youth ranks at Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool, though injury cost him first-team appearances and eventually moved to Oxford United, from where he returned to the League of Ireland with Athlone and Shelbourne. His uncle Eamon, meanwhile, is a former manager of Saint Patrick’s Athletic and played for Southampton and Portsmouth before making more than 100 appearances for Colchester.

Nathan is 20 years of age and now a Premier League footballer, but his precocity is not unique to the family: Eamon played first-team football for Blackpool at the age of 14, making him the youngest player to ever play a professional match in England. (Nathan would later become Stoke City’s youngest-ever captain, at the age of 18.)

The family experience has proved hugely beneficial for Nathan, and his parents were canny enough to weave a safety net: if his move from Cherry Orchard to Stoke City didn’t work out, it was arranged that Collins would return to UCD. 

“They’ve been so supportive”, says Collins of his parents, “but they knew the percentages of people who make it, who jump on from the academy, to 18s, to 23s, to first team. They know it’s such a hard game to get a breakthrough in, so they wanted for me to have my chance and do what I wanted to do, but also protect me if something happens, were I to get injured or don’t get another contract.

“They just wanted every angle covered and I had to agree to it because I wanted to play football. That was my side of it and their side of it was ‘Listen if it doesn’t work out, we want you to be protected’ so we had an agreement. Luckily I got another contract so hopefully I can stay over for a while.” 

Collins in action against Allan Saint-Maximin during a League Cup clash earlier this season. PA PA

With his Premier League debut achieved, his next ambition is his senior international bow, which is likely to arrive by next Tuesday’s friendly with Qatar. Collins was frequently name-checked by Stephen Kenny long before he was first called up to the squad for last month’s internationals. 

He is competing for a spot in one of Ireland’s stronger positions, however, vying with John Egan, Shane Duffy, and now Andrew Omobamidele to be one of Ireland’s three starting centre-halves. Injury cost Collins a place in the squad for the latter two games in September, so he instead he had to look on and watch Omobamidele make his full debut against Serbia. 

“There’s always that part of it isn’t there but looking at it, he was one of the best players on the pitch in both games he played, wasn’t he? Listen, he’s played unreal and I can’t really complain about anything. But obviously there’s always that aspect to it but I’m really happy for him, he’s my good mate, I’ve known him for years now so I’m buzzing for him.” 

The pair grew up two minutes from each other in Leixlip, and knew each other growing up. Collins himself has been growing up with a core of talented young Irish players now elevated to senior level by Stephen Kenny: he has played in underage teams with now-mainstays Troy Parrott, Adam Idah, and Jason Knight.

“To have that group, a strong group, and to have part of that here now is a real big thing”, says Collins. 

“I hope we don’t just settle at this. I want to push on and they want to push on. It’s a really strong age group. It’s not like we’re the only ones as the age group above us and below us was good.

“Hopefully they continue to produce good generations and that is the plan for the FAI and that’s the dream, to keep producing players and getting them into the senior squad.”