It’s safe to say Heimir Hallgrímsson did not enjoy an ideal start to his reign as Ireland head coach.
The Icelandic coach suffered back-to-back 2-0 home defeats to England and Greece, immediately mounting the pressure on him and his coaching staff.
One of the major narratives to come out of that window earlier this month was Hallgrímsson’s apparent unfamiliarity with the squad he had taken charge of. The 57-year-old admitted as much when selecting both his initial group of players and then the team to face England, saying that heavy inspiration had been taken from assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy.
There were undeniably questionable calls made in selection for both games. Though a teething period was always to be expected with hiring an outside manager (to borrow a beloved GAA phrase), any patience from Ireland fans will quickly run out should Hallgrímsson not show an ability or openness to change in the coming games.
Eyebrows were raised after several in-form stars failed to see a single minute of action across either the Greece or England games. To leave them out once more would leave major question marks about the engagement with the club form of Ireland’s players from the coaching team.
We’ve picked out four such players who have earned the right to game time in the upcoming window.
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Four players who deserve more minutes for Heimir Hallgrímsson’s Ireland
Troy Parrott
Troy Parrott with the winner from the spot for Alkmaar tonight in the Europa League against Elfsborg. 🦜
His first European goal!pic.twitter.com/io0bEzzjvx
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 25, 2024
We start with arguably the most in-form Irish player on the continent this season.
Troy Parrott enjoyed an encouraging season with Excelsior Rotterdam last season in the Eredivisie, earning himself a move to big-hitters AZ Alkmaar as a result. He announced his arrival earlier this month with an outstanding four-goal salvo against Robin van Persie’s Heerenveen, before scoring his first European goal with the match-winner against Elfsborg in the Europa League on Wednesday.
It took Parrott some time to become settled in the Irish setup but, as he has found form in the Netherlands, he has begun to show encouraging signs in a green jersey too. He scored the winner in John O’Shea’s final home game in interim charge, making it all the more confusing that he did not play a single minute against either England or Greece.
With Adam Idah struggling in both of those games, and Evan Ferguson still slowly coming back to full fitness, Troy Parrott should be an obvious choice up front for Ireland.
Liam Scales
Now this is the good stuff.
Liam Scales scores his first Champions League goal in Parkhead!
It’s the first Irish Champions League goal in 13 years – since Darron Gibson scored against Schalke☘️pic.twitter.com/7wI59Bi0uA
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 18, 2024
Despite Idah’s struggles for the national team last time out, he has settled back in smoothly to life in Glasgow since signing for Celtic on a permanent deal. Like Parrott, he recently scored his first European goal in the 5-1 rout of Slovan Bratislava – as did centre-back Liam Scales.
Scales has become a lock in Brendan Rodgers’ set-up since last summer and opened the scoring with a powerful header to send Celtic Park into raptures. The Dubliner has started all but one game this season for Celtic, conceding only two goals in 630 minutes of football.
Regrettably, Robbie Brady’s performances were a major problem for Ireland in the last window. Despite Scales not being a natural left-back, he would still appear far better suited to playing in that position than Brady was last time out.
Regardless of where in the back four (or five) he plays, it’s hard to see how Heimir Hallgrímsson and co. can leave Scales out of the starting XI for the next window.
Festy Ebosele
10 September 2024; Festy Ebosele of Republic of Ireland before the UEFA Nations League B Group 2 match between Republic of Ireland and Greece at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Another major issue for Ireland in the last window was the performance level of Matt Doherty down the other flank, with the Wolves full-back heavily criticised in the wake of the defeat to Greece.
His club performances have not inspired much further confidence in the weeks since. Seamus Coleman also struggled in the loss to England and has not featured for Everton since, so a switch-up is likely to be called for at right-back.
The obvious man for the job is Festy Ebosele.
Ebosele was called into the Irish squad on short notice midway through the last window after Coleman’s injury, though it was perhaps understandable that he did not see any game-time given his lack of match fitness.
The Wexford man fell out of the starting line-up at Udinese in the closing stages of last season and, eventually, it was decided a loan move to Watford would be beneficial. Ebosele has finally begun to see minutes with the Hornets, making his first start for the club on Tuesday against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
With question-marks over the availability and suitability of Ireland’s first-choice right-backs, the time has come to give Festy Ebosele a shot at the role.
Jamie McGrath
4 June 2024; Jamie McGrath of Republic of Ireland before the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Hungary at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
A man who has perhaps gone more under the radar than some of the others on this list, Jamie McGrath has quietly enjoyed a stellar start to the Scottish Premiership season.
He has started every game of the season thus far for Aberdeen, and has five goal contributions in five Premiership games. His outstanding performances have helped the Dons to a hugely encouraging early-season position in the table, as they pile the pressure on defending champions Celtic.
It was curious that McGrath was not called into Heimir Hallgrímsson’s first Ireland squad but, with the form that he is in, it will be hard to turn him away for the upcoming double-header.
McGrath failed to see a single minute during either of John O’Shea’s camps in charge either, spending all 180 minutes on the bench on both occasions. With the Ireland team sorely lacking creativity in both of their last two games, he may just force his way into contention for more minutes this time around.
There is no questioning that changes are required if Ireland are to enjoy a more positive window this time around – Heimir Hallgrímsson could do far worse than consider the four players above.
Ireland take on Finland (a) on October 10th before facing Greece (a) on October 13th.