Paul O'Hehir's Ireland Q&A - Five key questions for Heimir Hallgrimsson amid ongoing rut for Boys in Green
Ireland face Finland in Helsinki on Thursday before travelling to face Greece in Athens on Sunday
The League of Ireland title run-in has been so dramatic but it is forced to pause for this international window as Ireland prepare to face Finland and Greece.
There used to be a time when many observers felt the juggernaut of international football was the only show in town when it came to Irish football.
But this Nations League double-header is playing second fiddle to that thrilling League of Ireland conclusion and rightly so, such is the relatively healthy state of the league in comparison to the national team's dire fortunes.
64th in the FIFA rankings hosts 62nd with new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson desperate to turn the team's fortunes around after getting off to the worst possible start by losing at home to England and Greece last month.
Ahead of Thursday's game here in Helsinki, Mirror Sport looks at some of the key talking points going into a game where desperate Ireland would take a win by any means necessary.
WHERE ARE THE LEADERS?
Captain Seamus Coleman has been ruled out of both these games because of the injury he picked up in last month’s defeat to England, so the armband will be passed on. John Egan and Shane Duffy have stepped up before but neither man is on the scene at the moment so the honour is expected to fall to fellow defender Nathan Collins.
Collins was entrusted with those duties for the Greece game last month but if he is Hallgrimsson’s man this week, he needs to step up to the plate. When he scored that wonder goal against Ukraine in Poland, he was being hailed as the next big thing for Ireland but that was two years ago and his form since then has been up and down.
But Collins scored for Brentford at the weekend - against his old club Wolves - and you would hope that has energised him as Ireland need a leader in these difficult times and that responsibility might help Collins brush up aspects of his own game.
WHAT WILL HALLGRIMSSON DO AT FULL-BACK?
Hallgrimsson was diplomatic when explaining Matt Doherty’s omission from this squad, claiming the door was always open to the 32-year-old while stressing this is a time to experiment. But there’s no mistaking this for what it is, a ruthless culling of under performing senior players with Callum Robinson also cut adrift. Alan Browne can perhaps feel aggrieved at his omission.
But with Doherty out of the picture and Seamus Coleman injured, Hallgrimsson will have selection calls to make at full-back against Finland. Andrew Omobamidele of Nottingham Forest played at right-back against Greece last month and is expected to retain his place, with Festy Ebosele also in the frame.
On the left, versatile Celtic star Liam Scales is the form pick ahead of veteran Robbie Brady, leaving Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea as the centre-back partnership. Callum O’Dowda was another option at left-back - or wing-back more so - until he got injured and pulled out, but he was never going to start.
JOHN O’SHEA DOENS’T THINK SO BUT IS MIDFIELD STILL A CONCERN?
Ireland’s assistant manager John O’Shea took issue with a question earlier in the week about the perceived lack of depth in Ireland’s midfield talent pool, and he hit out at ‘derogatory’ comments aimed at some players in specific positions.
But with no Will Smallbone available because of injury, Ireland go into this international week with uncapped Ipswich Town man Jack Taylor - first in an Ireland squad in 2022 - as their only Premier League central midfielder.
Josh Cullen is back fit again after missing the England and Greece defeats with injury but the Burnley man has only ever flown under the radar for Ireland. Yes, that’s his game, knitting the play together rather than weighing in with goals, but Ireland need more from him in every respect.
Hallgrimsson said he wants a ‘bastard’ in his team, someone who can throw their weight around or take games by the scruff of the neck. Jayson Molumby is that man, but too often it feels like he’s doing it all by himself. Midfield remains an ongoing cause for concern.
IS HALLGRIMSSON REALLY FACING THE SACK IF IRELAND LOSE BOTH GAMES?
Eh, no. That would be ridiculous, but it hasn’t stopped former Ireland great Richard Dunne making the point that the FAI might look elsewhere. Would that be to his former team-mate and defensive partner John O’Shea, by any chance? Plenty of O’Shea’s old pals will be willing to bat for him in that event, but it won’t happen.
Finland are 64th in FIFA’s rankings, Ireland are 62nd, so on paper this looks like Ireland’s most winnable game of the Nations League campaign but that’s a dangerous assumption too, considering the bind the Boys in Green are in at the moment.
It is Hallgrimsson’s job to turn it around and it’s no wonder that O’Shea admitted during the week that they would take a ‘terrible’ win in Helsinki. Winning terribly is still winning, after all. But a ludicrous 231-day managerial hunt isn’t just going to end like that by the weekend, if Hallgrimsson continues his losing streak.
WHY IS EVAN FERGUSON NOT SCORING?
Because he’s not playing as he's only coming back from a bad injury and Brighton are flying under their new baby-faced boss Fabian Hürzeler. Ferguson hasn’t turned into a bad player overnight just because he’s not starting games for his club. The 19-year-old simply has to bide his time before getting more minutes.
But that’s not to say Ireland couldn’t do with a goal or two from the striker who hasn’t scored since November 25, albeit his season did end in April when he picked up that ankle injury that ruined his pre-season.
Ferguson has three goals in 14 appearances for Ireland and knows just how precious a goal would be for him this week. “Maybe get me back into a flow of getting that rhythm and back scoring goals again,” he said. “But I'm not trying to force anything. If you start doing that then you start overthinking stuff and you end up going backwards.”
Troy Parrott was a frustrated onlooker last month, not getting off the bench against England and Greece. But since then, he has smashed six goals in six games for AZ Alkmaar - including four in one match - to put himself in the frame against Finland. Will Hallgrimsson consider a different approach to accommodate another young striker who, like Ferguson, has still to show his best for Ireland? The form book suggests he should.
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