Heimir Hallgrímsson has named a 24-man squad that he hopes can take the Republic of Ireland to the 2026 World Cup in North America.
That is the reason for dropping Matt Doherty, Jake O’Brien, Alan Browne and Callum Robinson ahead of Nations League matches against Finland in Helsinki next Thursday and Greece in Athens on October 13th.
Doherty, capped 46 times since 2018, was widely criticised for his performances last month against England and Greece at the Aviva Stadium. Ireland lost both ties 2-0.
The 32-year-old is left out despite injury to fellow right back and Irish captain Séamus Coleman, with Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone also unavailable.
“We knew this question would come,” said Hallgrímsson. “We know that Matt and Séamus have been here for a long time in the squad. They are our most-experienced fullbacks, playing at the highest level for a long time.
“But unfortunately they will not play forever, so we need to have a Plan B if they are not there.
“My job is to get this team to the World Cup in the US in 2026,” Hallgrímsson continued, “and given that next year, 2025, if we end up in a group with five nations, all our Fifa windows next year will be official World Cup matches, so this is the only chance to experiment, to give players a chance to show what they can do. That is the reason we opted to go for other players at this stage.”
Hallgrímsson said Doherty was upset but took the news with professionalism.
“I called Matt yesterday. Obviously he deserves that. He was not happy, of course, he wants to play every game for Ireland, but I just assured him that it’s not like we are leaving him out, we’re just testing other players.
“Because of his experience as well, [we decided] not to bring him in to have him on the bench. It’s better just to give him this camp off.”
It means that Festy Ebosele is the only right back named in the squad with uncapped Luton centre half Mark McGuinness called up ahead of O’Brien.
Andrew Omobamidele makes the cut despite no minutes for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League this season as the 22-year-old started at right back, ahead of Doherty, against Greece.
Since signing for Everton this summer, O’Brien has only played 26 minutes in the Premier League while McGuinness is an ever-present in the EFL Championship.
“Mark McGuinness is centre back at Luton. He has been playing really well this season, aerially dominant and really a set-piece threat and also a good range of passing, and he’s been really impressive for Luton.”
Hallgrímsson allowed his assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy to pick the squad in September but the Icelander stamped his authority on selection ahead of facing the Finns and a fourth meeting with Greece in 16 months.
Ireland have lost all three previous meetings with Greece, dropping to 62nd in the world rankings, just eight places off their worst ever position on the Fifa charts.
Smallbone’s hamstring injury is offset by Josh Cullen returning while Jamie McGrath, Finn Azaz and Jack Taylor have forced their way into a group of six midfielders.
Hallgrímsson spent several days last week travelling across England attending club matches while O’Shea saw Ebosele mark Robbie Brady in the EFL Championship match between Watford and Preston North End on Wednesday night.
“Finn Azaz is another one who has been playing well for Middlesbrough. I saw him last week when they played Stoke – impressive, and again the day before yesterday, he had a good performance against West Brom, so (he’s) a guy I think can step up and show his strength for us.”
West Brom winger Mikey Johnston also returns and Kasey McAteer has been retained despite being unable to get into the Leicester City match day squad.
Evan Ferguson, Adah Idah, Sammie Szmodics and the in-form Troy Parrott will fight to start up front when the squad comes into camp on Monday before travelling to Helsinki on Tuesday.
Tom Cannon misses out despite scoring four goals for Stoke City in the 6-1 defeat of Portsmouth on Wednesday.
“We had kind of selected the squad prior to [last night’s] matches,” said Hallgrímsson of Cannon’s return to form. “I don’t think we would have changed it but it was nice to see an Irish player score four goals but you could see in the game he is not fully match fit.
“Hopefully he will continue scoring and he is in our backup squad.”
Meanwhile, Cannon’s Stoke team-mate Andrew Moran and Portsmouth’s Mark O’Mahony, both of whom also netted in Wednesday’s Championship fixture, have been named in the 23-man under-21 squad which will face Norway and Italy in the European Championship qualifiers next week.
Having shown good form for St Patrick’s Athletic, Mason Melia gets the call up from manager Jim Crawford, while Tayo Adaramola and Connor O’Brien return to the squad.
The team will be without Bosun Lawal, Zak Gilsenan, Sean Grehan, Conor Carty and Adam Murphy, who are all unavailable due to injury.
Ireland’s under-21s will host Norway at Turner’s Cross on October 11th (kick-off 7pm) before going to Trieste to meet Italy on October 15th (kick-off 5.30pm).
They currently sit second in the Group A standings and a win over Norway will guarantee them a spot in the play-offs.
Republic of Ireland senior squad (Finland & Greece):
Goalkeepers: Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (AFC Bournemouth), Max O’Leary (Bristol City)
Defenders: Festy Ebosele (Watford, on loan from Udinese), Andrew Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Mark McGuinness (Luton Town), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Liam Scales (Celtic), Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City), Robbie Brady (Preston North End).
Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Burnley), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Jamie McGrath (Aberdeen).
Forwards: Adam Idah (Celtic), Evan Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion), Chiedozie Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Kasey McAteer (Leicester City), Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich Town), Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar)
Republic of Ireland under-21 squad (Norway & Italy):
Goalkeepers: Tiernan Brooks (Gateshead), Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Josh Keeley (Leyton Orient, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Emmanuel Adegboyega (Dundee United, on loan from Norwich City), Tayo Adaramola (Stockport County, on loan from Crystal Palace) Sam Curtis (Peterborough United, on loan from Sheffield United), Anselmo Garcia-MacNulty (PEC Zwolle), Connor O’Brien (Accrington Stanley), Connor O’Riordan (Cambridge United, on loan from Blackburn Rovers), Sean Roughan (Lincoln City)
Midfielders: Baba Adeeko (Wigan Athletic), Matt Healy (Royal Francs Borains), Joe Hodge (Huddersfield Town, on loan from Wolves), Andrew Moran (Stoke City, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Killian Phillips (St. Mirren, on loan from Crystal Palace), Rocco Vata (Watford)
Forwards: Sinclair Armstrong (Bristol City), Aidomo Emakhu (Millwall), Johnny Kenny (Shamrock Rovers), Mason Melia (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Mark O’Mahony (Portsmouth, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Franco Umeh (Crystal Palace)