Heimir Hallgrimsson seeks answers after disappointing draw

By Damian Spellman, PA, Luxembourg

Heimir Hallgrimsson was left with more questions than answers after watching his Republic of Ireland side scrap out a 0-0 friendly draw in Luxembourg.

The visitors twice hit the woodwork at the Stade de Luxembourg but needed two saves from keeper Max O’Leary, making his senior international debut six years after first being called up, to emerge with something to show for their efforts.

It will be a very different team which the Icelander sends out for the opening qualifier against Hungary in Dublin in September, but it will also need to be a very different performance if Ireland are to launch their campaign with the kind of result they will need to stand a chance of making it to the finals.

Asked what he would take from the game, head coach Hallgrimsson, who presided over a far more impressive 1-1 draw with Senegal on Friday night, said: “Firstly, you always use these games to get answers to questions. We got some answers – maybe more negative answers than positive from this tonight.

“The take from this is obviously when we go in September when the serious games start, we play a higher-ranked team first at home and then a lower-ranked team (Armenia) away just like we did now. We need to learn from this performance before September.

“We can take a lot of things. Mostly it’s psychological or mental or whatever for the preparation. I know this is end-of-season so now everyone is in their off-season probably thinking, ‘I don’t want to get injured’ or whatever they are thinking.

“But there’s no excuse for a bad performance. Even if we would have scored in the end, I think still the performance was not good enough.”

But for O’Leary, who saved from Danel Sinani before the break and substitute Vincent Thill after it, Ireland could have been looking at a repeat of their embarrassment when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier in March 2021.

Nathan Collins and substitute Jack Taylor hit the post and the bar respectively for the visitors, but they were pushed all the way by a side ranked 91st in the world by FIFA and Hallgrimsson was full of praise for the Bristol City keeper.

He said: “We have known that all these years, probably. I have worked with him for a year and he’s always shown up, he’s always done well in training, he’s always supported the keeper that has been number one – which is Caoimhin [Kelleher] since I came and Gavin [Bazunu] before I came.

“He’s just a fantastic team player, but he’s also a good goalkeeper and now the fans got to see him.”

Luxembourg boss Luc Holtz was pleased with what he saw from his team as they gear up for September’s opening qualifier against Northern Ireland in the Grand Duchy.

Holtz said: “I’m very happy with the performance of my team. We managed to give big problems to Ireland. Ireland has a fantastic football team which plays with high speed and intensity and we managed to find solutions.

“This was a really good test for the upcoming match we play in September against Northern Ireland.”