When appointed Republic of Ireland manager in July 2024, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s intent was unambiguous.
“The first impression of the players is there are some really good characters, maybe a little bit too nice,” he said. “Sometimes you need a bastard in your team. I’m looking for him. Maybe we can develop him.”
On Saturday against Hungary in the opening World Cup qualifier, the 11 men Hallgrímsson has settled upon will be unveiled at a sold out Aviva Stadium.
“I might change [my mind],” he said before training on Tuesday morning in Abbotstown. “We have a lot of equal players and we still have some thoughts about which players fit best for Hungary, and we will see over the next couple of days who is giving the best performance in training.”
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That comment should light a fire under Chiedozie Ogbene and Kasey McAteer, the two wingers competing to start on the right for Ireland.
Hallgrímsson has spent the past 12 months and 10 international games fashioning a group that can be compared to the Iceland side he co-managed with Lars Lagerbäck at Euro 2016, where they knocked out England, before he took full control to draw with Lionel Messi’s Argentina at the 2018 World Cup.
The 58-year-old always intended to shape Ireland into a competent outfit with largely the same “11, 12 players”. He conceded on Tuesday that losing Robbie Brady and Troy Parrott to injuries are significant blows, especially without a ready-made replacement for Brady on the left of a back four.
Ryan Manning is likely to fill the gap. The Galway man started further up the left last June in a friendly against Senegal as Sammie Szmodics was injured. Szmodics is primed to return against Hungary, a nation he snubbed to declare for Ireland two years ago.
Crucially, Manning is a set-piece option having already scored twice for Southampton this season from curling free-kicks against Wrexham and Watford.
Parrott was expected to come off the bench on Saturday before starting alongside Evan Ferguson in Armenia next Tuesday as Finn Azaz looked like the final piece in the Hallgrímsson jigsaw when Ireland avoided relegation to Nations League C by beating Bulgaria twice, home and away, last March.
Azaz, who choose to play for Ireland over Israel, just moved from Middlesbrough to Southampton for an initial transfer fee of €12 million as the Saints believe the 24-year-old can guide them back to the Premier League.
If Hallgrímsson and his assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy heed the recent comments of Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna then McAteer will start.
After the statement signing of McAteer last week, Ogbene was loaned to Sheffield United in a clear choice of one winger over the other. However, the 28-year-old did enough during the Ireland manager’s recent visit to Portman Road to earn a recall. The GPS tracker already proved that Ogbene has not lost his sprinter’s pace and the eye test satisfied Hallgrímsson.
“Chiedozie’s speed is probably one of his superpowers and according to the numbers he is getting there and very close to his top speed,” said Hallgrímsson.
“To do that in a game on a consistent basis is another thing, obviously he is lacking the match fitness that others will have. The first thing we thought when Ipswich bought Kasey was: now we have three wingers at Ipswich so one of our players needed to be on the bench.
“We just told Chieo to go somewhere else! No, I’m joking. It was a good solution if Chieo gets playing time in his new club and hopefully Kasey will get more playing time as well, so it’s good for us.”
Nathan Collins will lead Ireland from centre back and with Josh Cullen adapting to his second stint in the Premier League as the Burnley captain, all that’s left to ponder is whether the uncapped Bosun Lawal can dislodge either Dara O’Shea from his partnership with Collins or Jason Knight from midfield.
Both O’Shea and McCarthy speak highly of Lawal, who has eased between the Stoke City defence and midfield this season, but the specialist attention Knight can give Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai probably makes Saturday a step too soon for the 22-year-old.
“I’m ready to play wherever, centre back or centre mid,” said Lawal. “Any position, I’m easy, I can play there.”
In a blow to Hungary, Union Berlin midfielder András Schäfer will miss the trip to Dublin and Portugal’s visit to Budapest on Tuesday with a muscle strain.
