In Heimir Hallgrimsson’s 14 months in charge of the Republic of Ireland, he has feasted on low-hanging fruit. Firstly – and crucially – he didn’t make things worse. He has presided over wins against middling opposition, three of them after falling behind. At no stage has he been paranoid or defensive about anything. These count as genuine successes, something that in quiet moments must make him reflect on just what an odd little nation he has got himself tangled up with.
The upshot is the sense of optimism and possibility around the Ireland camp this week, like suddenly seeing everything in colour after years of grey. There’s a lightness to the Ireland football team now, as if it has been hoisted by a load of helium balloons like that house in the movie Up. Players, coaches, the manager himself – they’re all talking with some mixture of confidence and purpose about qualifying for the World Cup.
But now comes the time to see if we can bear looking down. Hungary in the Aviva Stadium on a Saturday night, the pivotal game of the group, right out of the gate. Win and Ireland have a real chance of making it to the playoffs at least. Lose and everything fades to grey again.
To follow Irish football is to know, deep in your bones, that optimism is a fleeting thing, a placeholder to fiddle with while the other shoe is dropping. So why should this be any different?
RM Block
“First of all, it’s the team,” Hallgrimsson says. “I think we have a strong team, we are all in sync, we have all been tactically improving in every camp in my opinion. And there are more and more leaders emerging. This is a young squad that in the past didn’t have many wins, so confidence was low.
“But I think they feel themselves that they are getting stronger with every game we play, with every camp. And I feel the same. The quality in this team is big – it’s bigger than when I had Iceland and we achieved what we did. There is more individual quality in this team. The team-building thing is what gives me confidence.”
To be clear, the Iceland team he is talking about is the one that qualified for both a Euros and a World Cup, beating England at one and drawing with Argentina at the other. Declaring that this Ireland squad has more quality than a side with that kind of record is the sort of thing that would have had people rolling their eyes at Stephen Kenny. Maybe Hallgrimsson is just a better salesman.
The campaign will bring its judgments on that. For now, there is no question that he talks an impressive game. There’s no wishcasting with the Icelander. No sense that he’s desperately trying to justify his position or convince the outside world that he’s up to the job. Everything is calm and measured, logical and reasonable. Zero tilting at windmills.
Hallgrimsson’s philosophy for the Ireland team is an echo of Paul O’Connell’s old mantra about being world-class at the things that require no talent and going from there. He has set his team certain targets around structure, set plays, work-rate, leadership, physicality and fast attacking. Expertise in those areas will carry you a long way in international football.
“If you are an underdog like us in this group – we are ranked number three – we need to be better than others in some areas,” Hallgrimsson says. “It’s always better to be best in three, four, five, six areas out of 10 rather than to be semi-good in 10 out of 10. So we are focusing on certain areas we want to be good at and that’s these principles in defence and attack.
“We want to improve them because we would like to be better than others in some areas. That is our focus and what gives us belief and that is why the confidence is growing and the energy is growing. We feel like we are improving in those areas and that will give us an edge in games, when we’re playing Hungary and even if we go to the World Cup and we’re playing world-class teams. That is what’s needed to succeed at this level.”
When put like that, it all seems so perfectly straightforward and achievable. For the players, so many of whom got their start under Kenny and who spent the formative years of their international careers fighting the baleful tides, it doesn’t take long to see why they have responded to the new man.
“I think a massive thing is his experience from what he’s done and where he’s been previously with other teams,” says Nathan Collins. “I’ve played with players that have had him as manager before and they say he’s a simple man to get behind. His idea is that he makes everything as easy as possible for us players to learn.
“I think that’s something that’s helped the group get to where we are now. His ways have made it very easy for us to be on the pitch and gel everything together. I think the biggest thing for us is that he’s made life for us on the pitch a lot easier from where we were at the start when he first came in. To get behind his tactics and his ways on and off the pitch has been very easy.”
Paddy McCarthy spends his other working life at the cutting edge of elite coaching alongside Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace. As he was quick to remind us during the week, he has more than enough on his plate and wouldn’t be here in the Ireland camp if he didn’t see a project he believed in. Ask him for his assessment of the Ireland manager and his response is direct and glowing.
“I think the great work that was done before has to be recognised,” he said. “There was a lot of great work to bed these young players and give them opportunities and recycle the team and put us in this position now.
“But certainly, the manager has come in and I believe he has implemented his ideas quite quickly and has given autonomy to myself and John [O’Shea] to do what we want to do. His personality is very evident and that is infectious. I think any team is a representation of the manager and I think you will have seen that in the last number of games.
“He doesn’t put on any mask when he steps in front of you (the media) and I think you guys appreciate that. He is not after soundbites or anything like that. He is just a really genuine, humble guy who has been around football a long time, coached in many different situations, he is clear and consistent in his messages, clear and consistent towards everybody.”
All of which is what makes the next few days so important, both in the general life of the Ireland football team and the specific circumstances of Hallgrimsson’s reign. None of the fine words or the genuine optimism will matter a damn if Hungary grind out a 1-0 win. An entirely feasible outcome, if recent trends hold.
Ireland have taken part in five campaigns since the start of this decade – three Nations Leagues as well as qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Euros. Not only have they lost their first home game each time, they haven’t scored a goal. Whatever about France and England, they welcomed Ukraine, Luxembourg and Finland to the Aviva for the first home fixture of each campaign and didn’t land a glove on any of them.
In fact, the last time Ireland won the first home game of any campaign was the 1-0 victory over Georgia in 2019, otherwise known as the tennis-ball game. Darren Randolph was in goal, Glenn Whelan was in midfield. David McGoldrick won man of the match as the lone striker. A fortnight later, Stoke City handed a debut to a 17-year-old Nathan Collins. That’s how long ago we’re talking.
But though it’s been a long fall, Hallgrimsson is convinced that it’s at an end. That his players are virtually all in good club situations, that the hardship of the past five years have made men of them. His messages all week have been consistent and clear. Do what they’ve talked about, execute what they’ve drilled and good things will happen. Try to do too much or get too fired up by the sell-out crowd and they won’t.
“For us, the coaching staff on matchday, it would be my feeling that our job is more about calming players down,” he says. “I think the energy we would get from the crowd and the importance of the game, I think probably some players could get over-ambitious and maybe get an unnecessary yellow card. So it is probably our job to calm them down and make them think about the tactical things and focus.”
So there he stands, quiet and calm, saying all the right things. One of the Hungarian press guys asked a question on Friday and Hallgrimsson began his answer with “Csókolom”, an old Hungarian greeting that made his questioner immediately smile back. It was a perfect Hallgrimsson flex, a simple flash of charm, employed just because he had it to hand.
Words and charm won’t beat Hungary though. Optimism is all well and good but results are the only currency that count this weekend. If the team don’t measure up to their manager’s billing, he’ll find that the quickest thing in Irish football is the speed at which the air can go out of the balloon.
