'It's sad to talk about the Euros, but that's our job now' says Hallgrímsson

REMAINING POSITIVE: Heimir Hallgrímsson champions his Ireland side and their progress, despite Thursday's heartbreak. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

So much of the colour that painted Prague in such a brilliant light had drained away by Friday morning.

All but a few of the thousands of Irish fans had stuffed and stowed their green jerseys, tracksuit tops and hoodies into bags and wheelie cases. Hollowed eyes and haggard faces were the order of the day. There were no viral videos from the Old Town Square.

Two punters, still dressed in their matchday finest, sat in front of a TV replaying the full match from the night before as they awaited a departure gate in the Vaclav Havel International Airport. Another provided a surreal backing on a nearby piano. End-of-days generational pain in HD and surround sound. Could this feel any worse? 

Well, actually it could. Showing the game at gate C7, where dozens of those same fans were awaiting a connecting flight to Amsterdam, was an unnecessary last straw.

Rewatching snippets of the World Cup playoff semi-final defeat only reaffirmed the fact that the Republic of Ireland had let slip a glorious opportunity against mediocre opposition to make a first World Cup since the hosting by Japan and South Korea in 2002.

So many sliding door moments. A crossbar struck, a post hit. Ryan Manning’s brain fart and Troy Parrott’s thwarted header ten minutes from the end of normal time. The inability to drive it home when the Czechs missed the first of the spot kicks. No-one needs a TV to relive any of it. It will live on heads rent-free for a lifetime.

Stewing on just one of those snapshots would make for a painful post-mortem. Having so many only adds to the angst, and Heimir Hallgrimsson knew that Ireland were likely home and dry had Jayson Molumby or Parrott earned more reward for efforts on goal.

“Yeah, it would probably have been game over. They had scored so quickly after we scored the second one. And Nathan [Collins] hit the crossbar as well. So there are chances that didn’t fall for us, but that is life, that is football. And when it comes to penalties, it is a flip of the coin sometimes.” 

The Irish manager spoke of pride and gratitude amid the pain. It was a theme he continued when speaking to the Irish daily media in a hushed huddle. Character, resilience, spirit. All excellent, he said.

HEAVY HEARTS: Nathan Collins (left) and head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson appear dejected following defeat in a Prague. Pic: Adam Davy/PA

The team’s second-half showing, when they adopted a sit-and-hold strategy against a home team that was pressing but rarely threatening through much of the second 45 minutes, will stand against them in that. Seamus Coleman said as much. It was theirs to win, and their own failures that lost it. 

So bold in pushing their agenda in Budapest last November, there was an inability or an unwillingness among the Irish players to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Krecji’s equaliser was a risk they had flirted with for too long.

Would Josh Cullen have changed that? There was a suspicion on the night of a side tiring as the night wore on. So many of them had already played 30+ games of club football this season but the mental load must have outdone anything physical they might have felt.

Others faced a strain of a different kind. For Seamus Coleman and Chiedozie Ogbene, this was a marathon after the most insufficient of preps. Both ran themselves ragged.

“Yeah, it is the same for [Ogbene] as for Seamus, playing 90 minutes-plus. They are special. Obviously they were tired in the end but they gave everything that they had and that is what I love about these players. They will give everything.

“Chieo has been working as well as anyone according to the numbers and preparing for this game, and he just showed he was ready for it. He had a lot of runs as well and they struggled against him. He had a really good match but he obviously tired in the end.” 

The immediate future is grim. Stories of tickets flooding the resale market for what is now a meaningless friendly against North Macedonia in Dublin on Tuesday were abounding even as fans in the Czech capital were returning to their hotel rooms and hostels.

Hallgrimsson knows that this is his job and the job of the leaders in his team. Maybe Coleman will be given the chance to say farewell. John Egan too. Maybe they’ll be spared all that. They deserve better than a muted wave at a half-empty Aviva but this too will pass.

The manager is already contracted through to a Euro 2028 finals that Ireland, via the opportunities available to all the co-hosts, have an even better chance of making. If veterans are to be lost then the likes of Cullen and Evan Ferguson will return.

Harvey Vale coming on towards the end of extra-time on Thursday brought to 28 the number of players the side had used over the course of the campaign. Another eight spent time with the squad but none on the field of play.

Cullen will return, Evan Ferguson too. Really, though, we’ve no idea how this will evolve. Only six of the starting team from the opening day against Hungary got the nod against the Czechs. They played 4-4-2 then before turning to a three at the back.

For all the changes, there was a rock of consistency in the presence of Caoimhin Kelleher and the reassurance of so many of the same faces at the back through it all. Others flitted in and out. Matt Doherty, Festy Ebosele, Will Smallbone, Johnny Kenny.

Hallgrimsson said more than once that all the metrics point in the right direction. He was asked to elaborate on that.

“Distance covered and sprints. It is metrics like XG and playing through opponents, metrics like opponents play less through us, plus punching above our weight. Winning three games in a row hasn’t happened for the Irish national team.

“And to show the character again. Four times in the last year, we have won games that we have been losing and you have to go 16 years back for the last time that happened. So, a lot of things are changing, mentally and on the pitch as well, hopefully continue growing.”

A May training camp and more friendlies, against Grenada, Qatar and Canada, await deeper into the year. Thin gruel for a team and a nation that got to smell the banquet being prepared in North America this summer.

Even the prospect of home advantage at a major tournament come 2028 carried a limited appeal as Prague emptied and shattered dreams made their way home through Schiphol and Copenhagen and Helsinki and countless more connections.

“It is sad now to talk about the Euros,” said Hallgrimsson, “but that’s our job now.”