Confidence is growing within Republic of Ireland squad – Heimir Hallgrimsson
By PA Sport Staff
Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson believes “confidence is growing” within his side after a 1-1 draw against Senegal at the Aviva Stadium.
Kasey McAteer marked his first start for the Irish by giving them the lead in the first half but Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr struck with nine minutes remaining as it finished honours even.
Hallgrimsson, though, took heart from how his side carried out his vision to largely stifle a Senegal side who are now 21 matches unbeaten and ranked 19th in the FIFA world rankings.
That is 41 places higher than the Republic’s current position, having been as high as 28th in October 2019, but Hallgrimsson senses this is a side on the up after making it three games without a defeat.
“There were times where we defended without the ball, we made them look quite average,” Hallgrimsson said. “But I’m mostly happy that they didn’t create a lot of goalscoring chances.
“Let’s be honest, we’re not one of the best teams in the world and this is how we need to play against teams that will dominate possession.
“We need to wait for our chances and take them when they come. In this area, confidence is growing.
“We will need to be patient, these steps are taken small steps at a time but this was really pleasing because if we wouldn’t have done this as well as we did, we would have suffered against this team.”
The Republic travel to Luxembourg on Tuesday in their final outing before beginning their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup, with Portugal, Hungry and Armenia their opponents.
Hallgrimsson was especially pleased with the display of Leicester’s McAteer, who scored his first goal for the Irish in the 21st minute when firing in the rebound after his initial header had been kept out.
“If you’ve watched Kasey, he got a run for Leicester at the end of the season so you can see his club progress and he brought that into the national team,” Hallgrimsson said.
“That’s always the answer you would like to have when you try out new players.
“It was a really good first start for him. He’s a confident player on the ball, he has speed, good dribbling technique and if we can isolate him going one v one, that is his strength.
“He’s just a clever footballer with a good football brain; he knows where to pass the ball and not to pass the ball, etc.”
A Senegal side without star names such as Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly levelled from close range through Sarr, with Hallgrimsson lamenting the absence of VAR as he felt the FA Cup winner was offside.
“VAR probably would have given it offside but we knew VAR was not in-house so we cannot complain,” the Icelander added.
“I think the referees did a good job, there was a really good flow in the game, so I was happy.”