Heimir who? All is calm for the new Ireland boss in his honeymoon period
The media got a first look at the 57-year-old on the training ground with his new charges on Monday morning
Heimir who? The Manortown United under-9s formed a guard of honour onto the training pitch at Abbotstown and awaited their heroes.
'Kelleher, Kelleher' went up the chant from the excited lads in their yellow and blue kit as the first group of Ireland players walked through the small gap formed and Cork's Caoimhin held out both of those hands that earned him a decent run in Liverpool's first team last season for a series of high-fives.
As the rest of the training group filtered through, the schoolboys' whispered concern grew louder. 'Where's Ferguson? Where's Ferguson?'
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Without any game time since the end of March, there was some anxiety that Evan Ferguson could be unavailable for England's Nations League visit on Saturday.
But the Brighton striker had trained on Sunday and, much to the delight of the Manortown boys, he soon emerged from the team bus and through the guard of honour, followed by Ipswich's new signing Chiedozie Ogbene and Callum Robinson.
With that, the guard of honour was over and the schoolboys headed over to the bank on the far side to watch the players begin their drills.
And, moments later, Heimir Hallgrimsson made a typically low-key entrance.
After several press conferences and sightings at Airtricity League games since his surprise July 10 appointment, Hallgrimsson finally got his boots on the ground with his players on Sunday.
This, of course, is the honeymoon period for an Ireland manager with not a ball kicked in anger and with the post-mortems yet to come and the pictures show a happy and content manager with his new charges, despite the bad weather conditions.
With the media allowed in to watch the first 20 minutes of training on Monday morning, the former Iceland manager and still occasional dentist briefly paused with some reporters to talk about the heavy rain that fell during Sunday's session.
It must have felt like he was a long way from Jamaica, his last international posting.
Hallgrimsson quickly moved off and he passed his compatriot Gudmundur Hreidarsson, who he had brought in to work with the goalkeepers.
Until the media were asked to leave Halgrimsson spent the time putting down cones, occasionally chatting with coaches Paddy McCarthy and John O'Shea - the interim gaffer for four matches in March and June before the FAI got their man.
He also watched the players - bar Séamus Coleman and Andrew Omobamidele, who didn't train - being put through their paces. As the media departed, the real work was about to begin under cloudy skies...that England game is only five days away, after all.
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