David Sneyd

ONE OF THE defining aspects of the Republic of Ireland’s recent qualifying history – other than disappointment, of course – has been the inability to build momentum.

The opening two fixtures of each of the last five campaigns – World Cup, Euros and Nations League – have yielded one point and nine defeats from 10 games.

A draw in Stephen Kenny’s first match in charge against Bulgaria in September 2020 was as good as it got. Seven defeats would follow at the starting line in the intervening years before Heimir Hallgrímsson took over and suffered the same fate with back-to-back losses against England and Greece in the Nations League in September last year.

Encouragingly, Hallgrímsson oversaw a comprehensive end to that campaign in March, a 4-2 aggregate win over Bulgaria in the relegation/promotion play-off an indication that positivity could be taken forward for what will be a sprint rather than marathon test of endurance in World Cup qualifiers.

The group will run from 6 September to 16 November, with potentially a play-off process to follow. A slow start – indicative of the last five years – at home to Hungary and away to Armenia next month will cut any optimism at the knees.

The last time Ireland won their opening two games of a qualifying campaign was almost a year before the Covid-19 pandemic, when Mick McCarthy began his second stint in charge for the road to Euro 2020. No one could have imagined the detour.

A pair of 1-0 wins over Gibraltar and Georgia in March 2019 was also the last time the Boys in Green managed successive victories in competitive fixtures until those most recent showdowns with Bulgaria.

Ireland faltered in terms of results under Stephen Kenny for various reasons but one area where it seems Hallgrímsson now has more confidence is in the maturity of his squad.

It’s why he said this 23-man group was the most difficult he had to whittle down, and why he felt the need to visit Everton’s training ground last week and inform Seamus Coleman that he would not be required for duty.

The international captain is fit and available but yet to feature in the Premier League, and Hallgrímsson said it “would just be a wrong example picking a player that hasn’t played for almost a year”.

The Donegal native is spoken about reverentially by managers and teammates for his influence on a dressing room. It’s not that those powers have diminished, it’s just that others have been flourishing and growing in authority as well as maturity.

It seems only right that this is the case. They’ve endured plenty together over the last number of years, an introduction to international football coming at the same time they were battling to establish themselves at clubs and truly understand the game around them.

Rewind to those successive qualifying wins under McCarthy in March ’19 and only Matt Doherty is a survivor from the starting XI. He is the most capped player (52) with Josh Cullen (42) next in line having only made his fifth international appearance in the 3-2 defeat away to Serbia in the opening game of the last World Cup qualifying campaign in March 2021.

Dara O’Shea is now captain material but had only played four times for his country at senior level before that game in Belgrade while Nathan Collins didn’t make his debut until a friendly with Qatar at the end of that year.

He is now the player in possession of the armband – as he is at club level with Brentford – and at 24-years-old he is sixth most capped player in Hallgrímsson’s squad ahead of Troy Parrott and behind Adam Idah.

What followed that loss to Serbia at the start of the last World Cup campaign was the infamous 1-0 home to defeat to Luxembourg, described by Coleman afterwards as “horrible and embarrassing,” yet so many felt it was perhaps a necessary penance along the shared path for some form of salvation.

After all, McCarthy said he “pretty much hated every minute” of the away triumph in Gibraltar to kick of Euro 2020 qualifying and that was a fair assessment of the relationship so many people had with the national team at that point.

Kenny’s arrival infused plenty of belief before the reality of the overhaul and depth of work required made it clear there would be no short-term turnaround.

Five years on we will learn very quickly how much more of a struggle there will be for Ireland. There are still relatively inexperienced players included by Hallgrímsson, like the uncapped Bosun Lawal who has been impressive at centre back for Stoke City but was bought as a midfielder.

That is where Ireland have been keen to look at him, while Killian Phillips did enough in his two friendly appearances in June to keep his place ahead of someone like Jayson Molumby.

The return of Ireland’s player of the year for 2024, Chiedozie Ogbene, could give Ireland a different attacking dimension under Hallgrímsson for the visit of Hungary on 6 September and trip to Armenia three days later.

The Ireland boss rued the injury-enforced absence of Robbie Brady, the 2025 winner of that FAI gong, and someone he described as the most consistent player of his tenure.

“We won’t dwell on that, we just look at what other options we have,” Hallgrímsson said.

They look shallow in midfield, a familiar failing, and the test will be whether Ireland are mature enough to find a way to cope and keep hope alive beyond September.