After a slightly indifferent and injury-blighted 2015/16 season, the Euros and Ireland captaincy seem to have reinvigorated Séamus Coleman to the point where he's once more solidifying his place as the Premier League's finest right-back.
At 28, the Killybegs man is now an established senior figure at Everton, where next-gen talents such as Tom Davies are suddenly emerging a decade his junior.
The fact that Coleman is now a go-to man for his club was never more evident than last Saturday when Davies fed him for Everton's late, late winner at Crystal Palace. It was, to pardon the cliché, a captain's goal, save for the fact that he's not Everton's official club captain.
At international level, however, Coleman now dons the armband and leads his country, seemingly relishing in the responsibility. Last night, he spoke to Nathan Murphy and Kevin Kilbane on Newstalk's Off The Ball, where he was asked if he tracks the progress of some of Ireland's young upstarts in the Championship.
Coleman's response was a testament to what makes him such a revered figure within Irish football; he remains the everyman - the boy from up the road - despite being really, really good at football:
Yeah, you take a massive interest [in Irish players in the Championship].
Even on the Livescore app - as I said, I'm a bit of a football-aholic - you just look at the teams the Irish lads would be in and hope that they're playing, really.
And then obviously you'll see the highlights of the games and that. Definitely, you take a massive interest. Especially with Daryl and Andy going over, just to see how they cope. And please God they'll do really well. And I think Daryl has already settled right into it straight away.
When they came with Ireland, they didn't look out of place, which was great to see.
The fact that Séamus Coleman is at the same craic as the overwhelming majority of Irish football fans on a Saturday evening is oddly refreshing, as is the notion that he's keeping an eye on prospective international teammates - two of whom followed his path from League of Ireland football to England.
Indeed, considering where Coleman is at in his career, both Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle might find his own initial experiences of English football refreshing, too. Take, for instance, his first training session at Everton having joined from Sligo Rovers:
Fitness level I was fine. I was always a fit lad - that was never a problem.
But I remember my first training session. It wasn't with the first team, it was with the reserves - or I thought that it was the reserves at the time. I felt: 'You know, I've done all right here. I think I've done okay in my first day'.
And then walking off the pitch I find out that it was actually 17 and 18-year-olds. I was actually training with the under-18s. So I thought: 'I'm a bit off it here'.
Needless to say Coleman wasn't spooked by an otherwise disheartening experience, and having impressed on loan at Blackpool, became one of the most prolific and effective wing-backs in England, before going on to captain his country.
But he still uses Livescore, and that's the main thing.
You can listen to Coleman's full interview on Off The Ball from 01:02:45 below:
