HEIMIR Hallgrimsson continued to show how adept he is at ingratiating himself to the masses at Thursday’s Ireland squad reveal.
Within days of being appointed in July he was seen attending League of Ireland matches.
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The Boys in Green will welcome Finland to the Aviva Stadium on Thursday before travelling to Wembley on Sunday November 17
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The 100-cap Ireland legend oversaw the most memorable League of Ireland triumph in many years
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The Irish Mirror’s Paul O’Hehir publicised a telling moment from yesterday’s squad revealCredit: @paulohehirSimilarly, he travelled down to Cork to watch the Ireland women’s team defeat France in a Nations League encounter.
And yesterday he opened his press conference with a nod to Ireland legend Damien Duff on his league-winning exploits with Shelbourne.
Paul O’Hehir of the Irish Mirror was reporting from Abbotstown and tweeted about the noteworthy moment.
He wrote: “Heimir Hallgrimsson opens his Ireland squad announcement press conf by congratulating Shelbourne and Damien Duff on their league title win.”
Read More On Irish FootballThe sentiment was well-received by supporters with Stephen replying: “Proper order.”
It’s only a small and relatively trivial gesture in the grand scheme of things, but it was a nice touch and encapsulates why Irish fans have broadly warmed to the Iceland native.
But ultimately he will be judged on results – particularly since his 17-month contract ensures his brief is very much a ‘win now’ one rather than the longer-term backing given to predecessor Stephen Kenny.
When looking ahead to next week’s fixtures at home to Finland and away to England, he explained the thinking behind recalling Shane Duffy after he had missed out Hallgrimsson’s first two squads.
The 57-year-old acknowledged: “I really wanted to see the younger centre backs, we’ve a lot of up and coming and exciting young centre backs.
“In the beginning we went for the younger players but I felt, especially in the last camp and the camp before, there was some areas we can improve.
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“For example, we lost a lot of duels especially against Greece in the first half.
“And his leadership, his character will probably help us in that area.
“It’s good to see what he brings in and I hope that will be the attributes he will come in with, with leadership, a little bit more steel and winning duels, especially set pieces.
“I hope that’s what he will bring into the squad at this stage.”
However, for all of that, he opted to again leave another experienced option in Matt Doherty out – despite captain Seamus Coleman’s availability still being in question over a hamstring niggle.
On Doherty’s continued exclusion, he said: “I explained and again I’ve said it now – we want to explore other players in that position. We know exactly what he can so.
“He and Séamus have been kind of stuck in the starting XI for Ireland for a long time, they have done really well for the nation
“We know exactly what he can give us, so we don’t need to see him or test him.
“This is the last chance before the seriousness starts.
“He has a lot of experience that can help us, but like I said, now we want to test other players in these positions, like I told you before the last camp, that we would use these two camps to explore a bit at least, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Doherty suggested in an interview that he should have been picked last month. Hallgrimsson said: “I have to be honest, I didn’t read it, I just heard about it.
“But listen, all players should feel that they should be playing, they should have the confidence to feel that they should be playing and I would be unhappy if somebody thought that they didn’t deserve to play.”
Asked if he would play for Ireland again, Hallgrímsson said: “I hope so.”
YOUNG GUNSThe absence of key players has led to Andy Moran and Tom Cannon – on loan to Stoke City from Brighton and Leicester City respectively – being included. Each has one senior cap.
Hallgrímsson said: “They’ve both been playing really well. This will probably be our last chance to experiment.
“Even though we want to take steps and progress as a team, we also like to see some players getting their minutes and giving them a chance to play.
“Because next year, all matches will be official matches and important matches, so it gives us no chance next year to do experiments on players.
“Andy is a young player who, I would say, has a good engine in him, good pressing, he’s quick back into shape.
“He’s been impressive, but we didn’t want to pick him.
“I think we all expect him to become a national team player in the future, but we didn’t select him because of the Under-21s. We wanted the Under-21s to qualify for their finals.
“But now is the time to bring him in and see him and just evaluate him, how he is in the squad and what he can give us. We’re just excited to have him on board now.”