Hallgrimsson believes set-pieces are vital as Ireland set to utilise O'Brien's long throw-ins

SET PIECES: Heimir Hallgrímsson believes that Ireland's set piece will be key for them in their upcoming games. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

One last throw of the dice for Heimir Hallgrímsson will feature sticking with Jake O’Brien’s long throw-in.

A frustrating feature of Ireland’s crushing defeat in Armenia last month was the ineffectiveness of the Corkman slinging balls into the box from his arms.

Either Dara O’Shea’s flick-ons were wasted or the predictable ploy was dealt with by the hosts, just one of the many tactics which led to the latest embarrassing loss for the Irish team.

O’Brien seems to have had more joy when replicating his speciality for Everton and with the Portuguese Galacticos awaiting in Lisbon on Saturday week, expect any deadball opportunity to be maximised.

“If you play the game in your head, it's probably going to be a ball possession for Portugal,” said Hallgrímsson, setting out his stall.

“So, we need to use every opportunity to get players higher up the pitch.

“That's why, for example, set-pieces are vital for an underdog team like us.

“We had a lot of set-pieces against Hungary but didn’t utilise them against Armenia.

“We used the throw-ins in that game to recycle the ball, to get players higher up on the pitch and into the box. That will be important in Portugal.” 

Floating the notion of Ireland shocking the team ranked fifth in the world when they failed to do so against an Armenian side languishing 100 places behind is a bold call.

Hallgrimsson used the 1-1 friendly result against Senegal as a reference point for his optimism, chiming with the declaration from Nathan Collins post-Armenia that Ireland up their game against superior opposition.

It all sounds extremely tenuous when the margin for error over a six-match blitz is diminishing.

“We’ve had a project on our hands and we were feeling really good with it until Armenia,” said the Icelander about his 11-game tenure.

“Should we make one game affect what we are doing and how we are working?

“Absolutely not. We continue to have belief in the squad and will continue with our work.

"So let's not start to cry now. We need players and staff to believe in what we are doing.

“We are trying to fix what we think needs to be fixed, which is probably more than we thought in the beginning. This kind of vulnerability and instability is the thing we are trying to correct.

“That's the most important thing now – to look at this game against Portugal as a challenge, an opportunity to restore dignity and pride.” 

Chiselled campaigners Séamus Coleman and John Egan will ensure that’s a minimum.

Coleman turns 37 on the day of the Portugal game and may well be tasked with curtailing the impact of a familiar contemporary in Cristiano Ronaldo.

Egan is now 32 but has the memory of his first international goal from the last competitive visit to Portugal in 2021.

He’s recovered from a long-term foot injury to re-establish himself as a Championship regular at Hull City, adding another option to the defensive armoury.

“We are now calling in experienced players and hopefully they will correct some of these things,” noted the manager.

Troy Parrott will definitely be involved once he participates in AZ Alkmaar’s fixture against Telstar on Sunday. He had been initially ruled out with a knee injury but has made swift progress during his comeback.

There were some mixed signals about whether the striker would be available for both matches but any gametime at the weekend would ease fears about Saturday week coming too soon.

Hallgrimsson can tolerate the absences of latest injury victims Matt Doherty and Bosun Lawal but the mental side of the team’s malaise appears to be lingering.

His desire to enlist a sports psychologist won’t be acceded too in this campaign, as new chief football officer John Martin is angling towards tackling the deficit by appointing an expert to cover both the men’s and women’s teams.

“Maybe the vulnerability is the thing we need to correct the most,” he stressed.

“I think in the future this is something that will be the norm for every national team to have.

“But it needs to be the correct person. And that's something that the FAI needs to start to work on because the pressure on being in the national team is huge.

“Whether this would have changed something in the past, we'll never know. It’s a long-term fix.” 

For the short-term, Hallgrimsson isn’t minded to throw in the towel.