'It’s massive having Caoimhín for penalties': Hallgrímsson hails Cork man Kelleher's influence 

PARTY PIECE: Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saves Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty.  Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Heimir Hallgrímsson says the presence of penalty save king Caoimhín Kelleher boosts Ireland’s prospects if Thursday’s World Cup playoff semi-final is decided by penalties.

Czechia are slight favourites to progress into next Tuesday’s decider against either Denmark and North Macedonia but have new manager and captain following a period of upheaval.

Corkman Kelleher has saved three Premier League penalties since moving from Liverpool at the start of the season. He also denied Cristiano Ronaldo from the spot in Ireland’s visit to Portugal last October.

A tense battle is in store, which may lead to the game being extended into extra-time and a shootout.

Hallgrímsson, who reported a fully fit squad, isn’t encouraging his player to practice but knows he has the best in the business trying to repel the hosts.

“It’s massive having Caoimhín,” said the Icelander at today’s pre-match press conference in the Fortuna Arena.

“He’s proven himself to be one of the best penalty-stoppers in the game and obviously that gives us confidence.

“We have good penalty takers too but we’re not overly talking about this.

“I think it’s difficult to train for that moment if you need to take one at the end.

“So, we’ve just given players freedom if they want to exercise this.

“Otherwise we don’t talk much about it.” 

Meanwhile, Ireland’s veteran defender Séamus Coleman says there’s a duty on his team to ensure the feelgood factor leads to the World Cup.

Coleman (37) and Robbie Brady (34) are the only members of the current squad with major tournament experience.

This year marks a decade since that Euro 2016 fervour in France and Ireland are closest to ending their famine, with this the first of the two final hurdles.

Despite only receiving an allocation of 1,024 tickets for the sold-out 19,000-capacity Fortuna Arena, at least 6,000 are in Prague for the blockbuster tie which will be played to completion.

“It's difficult to say if it's fuelling the players,” the Everton defender said about past playoff defeats.

“They're all so young and the nation was hurt massively. I don't think the current bunch are dwelling too much on that hurt.

“We're just riding the wave of the confidence we've got as a group after the campaign.

“This young group deserves that from the last two games and we're looking forward to seeing what comes after Thursday.

“To see how the nation is feeling now. We've got a duty to try and make them even happier.”