Latest news with #Hallgrímsson
The Irish Sun
10-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Republic of Ireland's toothless attack fires blanks as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side stumble to bore draw in Luxembourg
AND the winners from Ireland's last game before their summer holidays were the players already on their summer holidays. 2 Ireland players leave the field after a scoreless draw against minnows Luxembourg 2 Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson won't be happy with the end-of-season showing on his birthday A 0-0 draw against the Grand Duchy was as good as it got, as Ireland never looked like losing and rarely looked like winning. In truth, it was typical end of season friendly fare on the final day before everyone on the pitch goes on their summer holidays. But it meant the real winners were those that Hallgrísson had told to go on their holidays already. When picking his squad, he left out the majority of Championship players because their season finished five weeks ago telling them to rest up for the World Cup qualifiers. read more on football In fact, they told them to take a holiday this year because there would be none next year as Ireland prepared for the World Cup! If Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz et al were watching last night in a beach bar, they will have seen that they were missed and should be back in the side for the autumn qualifiers. This June window has seen the emergence of That said, it was a game that Ireland could still have won. Most read in Football But a win would have just painted over the cracks that Ireland's performance was well below par - especially in the first half. Heimir Hallgrimsson gives first call-up to four Ireland players in squad for friendlies vs Senegal and Luxembourg During that 45 minutes, an average team - nevermind a good one - would have punished the Boys in Green. Fortunately, Luxembourg are below average as their one win in the past 18 months proves with their team having more problems than simply getting results. That was evident even before kick-off from the banners around the ground aimed at the local FA - FLF - and the selection of Gerson Rodrigues. In March, he lost his appeal against a conviction for three assault and battery charges, including one on his former girlfriend. There were banners in the stands that made the feelings of many Luxembourgers clear. 'Red card for violence against women' and'Shame on you, FLF' were hung while red cards were brandished by a small section of fans. Rodrigues was also booed, but the majority of that came from the Ireland fans who had little to cheer from their own team. There were five changes to the team as Max O'Leary came in for his debut and Hallgrímsson spoke about how his side have got the 'basics' right but there were few signs of that in Luxembourg as they struggled to gain any foothold. The warning signs were there early on as Collins hit a long diagonal that Robbie Brady could not keep in play and Dara O'Shea was cajoling his teammates to up the tempo. By ten minutes, boss Hallgrímsson was standing on the edge of his technical area, and moved Will Smallbone more centrally after 25 minutes, as his head hardly got a kick. The summer holidays start today but Luxembourg were often able to glide through the Ireland midfield as if they were already in flip flops. Had Luxembourg posed a real threat, they could have punished Ireland but the positive - if we are clutching at straws - was the Boys in Green's backline did hold firm. Debut goalkeeper O'Leary had little to do but did it well coming and making a few catches cleanly though his distribution was erratic. In fairness to him, neither Troy Parrott nor Evan Ferguson were getting any favours from Austrian referee Stefan Ebner despite some robust Luxembourg challenges. But the ball was not sticking to either of them and meant that the Irish backline was continually under pressure. O'Leary had to make a decent save to turn away a Danel Sinani shot from distance after Ferguson gave the ball away and allowed the Luxembourg front man to race forward. Early in the second half, O'Leary again did well when he denied Laurent Jans' effort from a tight angle with his legs after Parrott had lost possession in his own half. Later, he saw a cross from Vincent Thill come back off the butt of his post. And the second half did see Luxembourg pepper O'Leary's goal more often though, in truth, they were largely from distance where you never expected Ireland to concede. That said, Ireland did create chances too and could have won without playing well. Collins came close to an opening goal just before half time when he headed against the post after O'Shea had headed a deep Smallbone free kick back across goal. Early in the second half, Friday's goal scorer McAteer showed his attacking flare with a run from inside his own half and shot that fizzed just wide. And the winger was involved in Ireland's next decent chance when he arrived at the far post to drill Ryan Manning's left cross from the left into the six-yard box. Unfortunately for Ireland, Parrott could not adjust his feet quick enough to turn the ball in as he was then adjusted to have handled the ball as it bounced up awkwardly. Parrott did have the ball in the net on 67 minutes but it was rightly ruled out for offside as he made his run onto McAteer's pass too early. And McAteer - who was moved to the left flank in the second half before going off - also flashed a shot wide as he stretched to reach a ball over the top from Jake O'Brien. Taylor also saw a 20-yard drive cannon off the crossbar four minutes from time that could have earned the Boys in Green a win. But Ireland are going to have to play a lot better in the autumn World Cup qualifiers. Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0
The Irish Sun
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Ireland newcomer set for first start in friendly against Luxembourg after impressing vs Senegal
KILLIAN Phillips is in line for his first Ireland start tomorrow night. The Crystal Palace midfielder - who had an impressive season-long loan at St Mirren - Advertisement 2 Heimir Hallgrimsson handed Phillips his debut on Friday against Senegal 2 Killian Phillips impressed at St. Mirren which earned him his debut And it appears as though the Dubliner will be rewarded for his display off the bench with a place in In a departure from the norm, Heimir Hallgrímsson allowed the media to stay for the entire eve-of-match training session. Usually, journalists, photographers and camera operators are allowed in for only the first 15 minutes meaning all they see is the warm-up. But he gave the green light for the media to stay for the full session and, as a result, saw a full 11 v 11 match after several drills. Advertisement Read more on Irish football And that gave an insight into the team Hallgrímsson is likely to pick for the final game of the season, mainly consisting of players wearing orange bibs. If that is the case, it would mean four changes from the team which drew with Senegal with Phillips, Liam Scales, Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott coming in for Ryan Manning, Dara O'Shea, Adam Idah and Jack Taylor. The team in organe had Caoimhín Kelleher behind a back four of Matt Doherty, Nathan Collins, Scales and Robbie Brady. The orange team had a midfield four of Kasey McAteer, Bosun Lawal, John Joe Patrick Finn and Will Smallbone and a forward pairing of Ferguson and Parrott. Advertisement Most read in Football Live Blog After a water break, Josh Honohan was subbed in for Brady - and immediately floored Festy Ebosele with a firm challenge - with Josh Keely coming in for Kelleher. Max O'Leary was between the posts for the blue team with his back four comprising Jake O'Brien, Andrew Omobamidele, O'Shea and Manning. The 1% Club viewers in awe as 'genius' footballer wins £100k for charity - but would you have got final question right? The midfield quartet consisted of Ebosele, Phillips, Jason Knight and Andrew Moran with Taylor supporting Idah, as he did on Friday. But it would seem a reach for Lawal and Finn to start. Advertisement Lawal was only added to the squad at the weekend and started just one game for Stoke City in an injury-hit season, at right-back, in their final league fixture. As recently as Thursday, Hallgrímsson said Finn had 'to grow a little bit more as a player to be starting for Ireland. He's done well in training but we see he needs to improve in certain areas.' Therefore, it seems likely that it will be the team in orange bibs - bar the central midfield pairing - which will take the field against Luc Holtz's side. Phillips, 23, is a classic late developer. Having been overlooked by League of Ireland academies, he was still playing in the DDSL with Kilbarrack United before being signed by Drogheda United in 2020. Advertisement He had to wait until the following season to make the breakthrough at first-team level but his form resulted in a move to Palace in January 2022. He has yet to play for their first team but has gained considerable experience during loan spells with Shrewsbury Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Aberdeen and St Mirren. Of the five uncapped squad members - O'Leary, Keeley, Honohan, Finn and Lawal - the Bristol City keeper and versatile Shamrock Rovers player look most likely to win their first cap off the bench. IRELAND (probable): Kelleher (Brentford); Doherty (Wolves), Collins (Brentford), Scales (Celtic), Brady (Preston North End); McAteer (Leicester City), Phillips (Crystal Palace), Knight (Bristol City), Smallbone (Southampton); Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Ferguson (Brighton). Advertisement
The Irish Sun
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘Look at new faces' – Heimir Hallgrimsson confirms changes will be made to the Ireland team to face Luxembourg
HEIMIR Hallgrímsson believes that going back to basics has Ireland ready for the World Cup campaign. The Boys in Green face Luxembourg tomorrow in the final warm-up game ahead of the start of the World Cup qualification campaign in September. Advertisement And Hallgrímsson wants to see Ireland build on a decent 2025 to date that has seen them He said: 'Basics first before details. I think we are getting the basics pretty good at this stage and the excitement comes with that. 'We feel that we are growing, we can play good teams like Senegal and look comfortable. 'That's now one step taken and hopefully we can have the same performance against Luxembourg so it shouldn't be up and down performances. Advertisement Read more on Irish football 'We should be consistent in what we are doing, that's the main thing if you want to qualify. "You need to get performances every game and play a similar way in every game and develop a style of play. 'This World Cup campaign comes and goes really quickly so we have to have everything spot on once it comes to September. I think it's good preparation for us. 'It's always important to win. For every team, it's always important to win. Advertisement Most read in Football Live Blog Exclusive "Just to get that winning feeling and make it a habit to do everything correct - to win the matches. 'It is important to win the game even though we would say in a friendly, I would pick performance above winning. ITV commentator stunned by Cristiano Ronaldo banner at Nations League final 'If we have a good performance, continue to improve in what we are doing, even though we are unlucky and lose the game, I would probably take that more than a win… 'It was the wrong way of saying that, don't make that a headline!' Advertisement While Hallgrímsson looks for consistency, he confirmed that he will make changes to his starting XI. Stoke City's 1 A number of players in the squad are still awaiting debuts But both took part in training this morning in the Stade de Luxembourg. Advertisement Hallgrímsson continued: 'The purpose of this camp was to look at new faces and we will make some changes even though we were really happy with the performance. 'Hopefully everyone will have their time to shine, but we'd like to keep some consistency too and build on what we've been doing well. 'I think we probably played one of our best games as a team and we don't want to miss that in the game against Luxembourg.'
Irish Daily Mirror
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Heimir Hallgrimsson responds to Brian Kerr's criticism of a key decision
Heimir Hallgrímsson has batted away criticism from Brian Kerr of Ireland's summer friendly opposition. The Boys in Green impressed in Friday night's 1-1 draw with African giants Senegal, and on Tuesday they are away to Luxembourg. Former Ireland boss Kerr was speaking back in March when he questioned the wisdom of playing both countries - particularly Senegal - ahead of the World Cup qualifiers later this year. 'I don't know what the point is of playing Senegal, given that we are going to be playing either Denmark or Portugal,' he said, ahead of Portugal's win over Denmark, which put them into Ireland's group. 'Our next matches are against Hungary, Denmark or Portugal and Armenia, so I don't really get that one.' It should be noted that during Kerr's time as manager, Ireland played Australia, Canada, Brazil, Nigeria, Jamaica and China in friendlies around European and World Cup qualification games. Hallgrímsson wasn't aware of this, but was quick to respond with an explanation for the choice of Senegal as summer friendly opponents. 'I'll answer this one and it's a really easy answer,' he said. 'First of all, it was difficult to find an opponent in this window because a lot of the teams are playing World Cup and others already decided who they would play in friendlies so there was not a lot of options. 'Senegal was playing England and that is a world-class opponent and we wanted a strong opponent. 'Like I said inside, we wanted to play a really strong team and that was probably the strongest we could get. 'It wouldn't have been the correct way to do it, to play maybe two teams below us in the FIFA rankings. It wouldn't be the same. 'To play different opponents is healthy and challenging for the players, with different kinds of threats and we can develop our game playing against opponents like these. 'And if we qualify for the World Cup, we need to play teams from Africa, Asia etc so it's a good preparation. 'There is not a lot of games we can have if we qualify to play these opponents.' There were plenty of positives to take from Friday's game, including individual performances from players such as Ryan Manning, Will Smallbone and goalscorer Kasey McAteer. On Southampton's Manning, who played in an advanced role ahead of Robbie Brady, often drifting inside to allow Brady space to attack, or dropping back to cover for the Preston man, Hallgrímsson was delighted with his display. 'He is growing in this role that we have given him, he is getting to start game after game now so you can see his understanding of the tactics,' said the former Iceland and Jamaica manager. 'He is a player who can create and is quick. For me also, when Robbie is higher he can drop in and be the left back so that is really a good positive thing, their cooperation has been really good. 'He is a genuine good player but the best thing for me is that he can play more than one position. That helps us a lot in how we want to play. 'We want players to take action and then (for others) to fill up and react to that position. Him and Robbie have done a good job playing together.' As for fellow-Saints player Smallbone, he said: 'We haven't had a chance to work with Will a lot, so he was one we wanted to see in action. That is the purpose of giving players a chance. 'Everyone should come in with the thought 'I'm going to use this opportunity to my benefit and cement my name in the starting line-up or squad from now on.'
Irish Daily Mirror
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Hallgrimsson on one big change Adam Idah has to make when he plays for Ireland
Heimir Hallgrímsson has acknowledged that striker Adam Idah is forced to change one big aspect of his game when playing for Ireland, compared to the role he plays at Celtic. Idah won his 31st senior cap in Friday's 1-1 draw with Senegal, after completing another league title winning season with the Bhoys, who dominated the Scottish Premiership once again. Idah scored a career-best 20 goals in all competitions for Celtic this season, but he drew a blank on Friday and looked frustrated at times. And according to Hallgrímsson, Idah has much more work to do with the Boys in Green than with his Scottish side. 'I saw he took the job seriously today,' said the Ireland boss of Idah's display against Senegal. 'It's not been an issue but I think in his club it's just so different a role it's difficult to switch. 'Because we need a lot of defending from our strikers and he's just not used to it at Celtic, when they have their possession at say 60, 70 or 80 percent in games. 'So the space he needs to work on in games is small. It's a switch and hopefully players are learning more and more and he is growing. 'He knows what we expect so that's a positive sign.' Idah was spotted remonstrating with teammate and goalscorer Kasey McAteer at one point during Friday's game, after the Leicester winger failed to pick him out with a cross. It was one of a few flashpoints on the pitch during the game between Ireland players. In the lead-up to McAteer's opener, Matt Doherty and Dara O'Shea were seen arguing over the pair of them challenging for a corner. Such debate is healthy, according to Hallgrímsson. He said: 'We want to be in sync when we take decisions, there always needs to be a reaction. It was just a misunderstanding. And that is a healthy thing. 'Everybody likes to play the game and do well, if they have a chance to do so and the ball doesn't come because somebody makes a mistake then they are unhappy with it, they should be unhappy with it. 'I cannot disagree with players saying this is how it should be done. It is okay.'
