The real tests will come against the lower nations
Ireland's Jayson Molumby shows his frustration as manager Heimir Hallgrímsson and coach Paddy McCarthy and assistant manager John O'Shea talk to the rest of the players during their UEFA Nations League clash at the Aviva Stadium. Photos: INPHO/James Crombie and Ryan Byrne.
The latest era of Irish football got underway on Saturday as Heimir Hallgrímsson took charge of his first game as the new manager of the Republic of Ireland senior men’s team.
It couldn’t have been much more of a difficulty start for him as England were the first opponents which was always going to be a tough ask for Ireland. England were head and shoulders above Ireland on Saturday, and they comfortably controlled the game.
It’s hard to judge Ireland from that game because of the level England are at but there were not many positives for Ireland supporters and Hallgrímsson to take from the game bar maybe the performance of Caoimhin Kelleher in goal.
You couldn’t have written a better script for the game if you were an English supporter as two former Irish players Declan Rice (who won caps at U17, U19, U21 and 3 senior caps) and Jack Grealish (who won caps at U17, U18 and U21level) both scored in the 2-0 victory at the Aviva.
Both players had very good games on their return to Dublin where every touch from them was booed heavily by the Irish crowd. I did find it quite amusing when Declan Rice refused to celebrate his goal which sometimes happens when a much-revered player moves from one club to another and then scores on his return, but this is the first time I have ever seen this happen at international level.
Jack Grealish on the other hand had no problem celebrating his goal and rightly so for him. While I disagree with Rice being able to play for England because he had already played at senior level for Ireland, I think that Grealish’s circumstances are a little different as he only played up to U21 level.
Ireland have benefitted for years from recruiting underage internationals from lots of countries to try and improve our squad, so England have just done the reverse with us on Grealish. Not everyone will agree with me on that which is fine, but we can’t have it both ways and just be annoyed when it goes against us with a player.
I received a text from an ex-teammate just as Jack Grealish scored the second goal of the game suggesting that all that was missing from the game for a suffering Irish fan was the English manager (ex-Irish International) Lee Carsley coming on and scoring the third goal.
Carsley will be delighted with the performance of his English side and he will have done his chances of getting the job on a permanent basis no harm whatsoever despite all the hullabaloo and criticism about him not singing the national anthem which was rich from the English press considering Declan Rice sang the Irish national anthem before and also kissed the Irish badge after a late winning goal against Azerbaijan in an U21 international at Tallaght Stadium in 2018.
While it was the start of a new era for Ireland on Saturday the real test is going to be how we do against the teams who aren’t the top nations. The game tonight (Tuesday) at the Aviva against Greece in the second group game is going to be a very important one already for Hallgrímsson.
Greece had a great start in the group with a comfortable victory on Saturday beating Finland 3-0 at home. They are unbeaten in all five games against Ireland (four wins and one draw) and have only conceded one goal in those five games which shows the task ahead of Ireland.
Historically when we have done well and qualified or been competitive in qualification, our home form was the foundation which we were able to build off. When you win your home games it keeps the supporters behind the team and takes the pressure off away games where you can nick some points and stay in the hunt to make tournaments.
The next four group games are against Greece and Finland, and they are the games that will determine the outcome of our campaign.
After tonight’s game we have two away games in a row so it is important we can put in a performance and get a positive result for Hallgrímsson and the Irish fans to have something to cheer about and make the build up to the next international break a more positive build up rather than talking about two losses in the opening two games of the campaign.
