Ireland need to give us something to cheer about

Those with a bee in their bonnet over the condensed nature of the inter-county GAA season these days would do well to look at the schedule for the Republic of Ireland over the next couple of months.

The six internațional fixtures, squeezed into a ten-week period between now and mid-November, will have far-reaching consequences. They will decide whether Ireland will go to a World Cup next year and that has a knock-on effect on so many different things, not least the financial state of the of the FAI which is already looking to reduce its employee headcount. This really is important stuff, beyond the field of play.

A good start is paramount, and the fixtures computer has thrown up two winnable games for Ireland in their opening two matches.

Hungary at home is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one, and while an away fixture against Armenia is potentially sticky, Ireland must expect to take all three points from a match against the 105th ranked side in the world. Four points from the first two games would be an acceptable return.

Portugal are the other team in the group, with first place set to give you a direct ticket to next summer’s tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico. Second will get you a play-off.

It has been a curious time for the Irish football team. There was an amount of goodwill towards Stephen Kenny’s time in charge, which generated vociferous debate amongst virtually every sector of the sporting public. The opinions around whether he should stay or go were incredibly strong and forthright which, in some ways, was actually a positive as it reflected the depth of feeling the Irish public have towards their national team.

Now, we seem to be in a period of a level of indifference. Heimir Hallgrimsson’s appointment was unexpected and maybe a tad underwhelming but, to be fair to him, he has done a decent job thus far with retention of their League B status in the Nations League achieved last Spring. But, ask yourself the question: has anything stood out for you from the Irish national team over the last 18 months or so? Can you remember any major moments of significance? If the answer is no, I suggest you’re part of the majority.

That will change over the coming weeks. Finally, we have some real stuff to look forward to in which we can genuinely gauge whether Ireland are moving in the right direction or whether they remain stuck in an area where they are largely irrelevant in the context of European football.

There is a huge danger of this becoming the case. While Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers reaching the league phase of the Conference League is a milestone moment for the game here, it also came in a week when an audit of the academy system revealed that Ireland lags behind nations ranked 51-100 in the men’s and women’s rankings when it comes to our academy system.

So with job losses on the horizon at the FAI and a mountain of work to do academy wise, Irish football needs something to cling onto. The national team needs to provide a bright spot on this front.

Whisper it quietly, but maybe there are some reasons for optimism.

Caoimhin Kelleher and Nathan Collins are set to play a lot of Premier League football this season together at Brentford, while Josh Cullen will be central to Burnley’s bid to stay in the top flight. Further afield, Troy Parrott has been in superb form for AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie and in Europe with ten goals already this season while Evan Ferguson appears to be enjoying himself in his new surrounds at Roma.

The current incarnation of the Ireland team, like many of them before this generation, is solid rather than spectacular. But, no one is expecting Ireland to turn up and pass the ball around like Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Go and have a go, be tidy and try and upset the opposition. If that’s the basis for some success, let’s go with it and not try to create something that this particular group of players isn’t suited to.

International football, at Ireland’s level, is largely about being organised and solid. Hallgrimsson, with John O’Shea, has at least delivered that, save for the hefty defeat against England.

In the away match against the English, Nathan Collins played in front of the back four and shoved further into midfield when the opportunity arose. However, Collins should drop back into the last line of defence this time around with Liam Scales and Dara O’Shea also good options at the back, given they are playing regularly at club level.

The aforementioned Cullen will try and keep things ticking over in the midfield and, up front, the conundrum about Parrott or Ferguson will be solved by the fact that Parrott looks set to miss this international window through injury.

Outside of our island, no one really expects Ireland to make much of an impact in the upcoming campaign. On the island, the opinion would appear to be largely the same.

Now, though, we really need the national team to give us something to get behind. Even if it’s just a positive pair of results this week, at least that gives the campaign a lift at the start and gives everyone reason to believe. Second place is a very achievable objective and Portugal are a team Ireland has played well against in the not too distant past.

They say there’s only one thing worse than being talked about, and that’s not being talked about at all. The Irish team, now almost ten years on from a last major tournament appearance, does not want to further slide towards irrelevance.

Results in the coming weeks can help prevent that for the current generation.