Ireland captaincy up for grabs if Seamus Coleman is ruled out with fresh injury scare
Nathan Collins was stand-in captain last month but Shane Duffy is back in the mix after coming in from the cold
Heimir Hallgrimsson is backing Nathan Collins to put his Ireland wobble behind him and rediscover his best form.
But the manager refused to say if the Brentford defender would captain the side again against Finland and England, if Seamus Coleman is ruled out.
That’s because regular stand-in skipper Shane Duffy has been brought in from the cold, having played no part under Hallgrimsson up to now.
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Collins was awarded the armband for last month’s Nations League double-header as Coleman was crocked. But his costly blunder gifted Finland their lead goal in Helsinki and Hallgrimsson was asked yesterday if he still backs the big defender.
“I think he’s just growing as a centre-back. If you look at his last game, against Fulham, he’s really growing playing at the highest level. That will only help him improve.
“Conceding three goals in two difficult away games in the last cap, maybe that’s something that will not qualify us for the World Cup. But two of those goals (Collins and Caoimhin Kelleher) were individual focus errors. We cannot do anything about individual mistakes. Hopefully we just learn.”
Coleman was named in yesterday’s 23-man squad but no sooner was it announced that Everton revealed he was a doubt due to a fresh hamstring issue.
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Hallgrimsson said: “He took a scan. They were not so concerned about it but let’s see what happens and then we just take a decision when the results come from the scan.”
Matt Dohety is one of the players on standby, although it’s not a given that he would be recalled having been axed last month and again overlooked yesterday.
If Coleman is ruled out, Hallgrimsson would likely pick either Collins or Duffy as stand-in captain but said: “I haven’t really given it deep thought. Nathan did a good job as a captain and he is probably the future for us but it’s an interesting question. Give me some time to think about it. But if Seamus is there, he is captain.”
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