Heimir Hallgrímsson: We proved how valuable this training camp was in so many ways

HEIMIR TIME: Ireland's manager Heimir Hallgrímsson celebrates with fans after the match. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

Heimir Hallgrímsson insists the disciplined performance from his team in their 5-0 hammering of Grenada underlines the value of his first training camp.

Instead of brief build-up to international games, the club season conclusion for a raft of his players facilitated a longer window to prepare for the first of three summer friendlies.

Hat-trick hero Jack Moylan was among seven debutants to feature in the workout in Murcia, enlarging the depth of options available to the Ireland boss for the competitive fixture resumption in September. All five goals came in the second half, with Tom Cannon kicking off the rout with a brace.

A different squad, with limited duplication, will be unveiled on Sunday for the home match against Qatar on Thursday week and trip to World Cup bound Canada on June 5.

“I was overall happy with the camp,” he said as his players dispersed for family holidays.

“We proved a point of how valuable this is in so many ways. Hopefully you saw that everybody had tactical knowledge.

“I was even happy with the first half. Although we didn’t score, we created some good goalscoring opportunities.

“We won the game, in my opinion, because of discipline and teamwork.

“All the time we won it, it was from good defensive positions and we were rewarded for that.

“Another thing on the discipline, you never saw a player going forward and not going backwards. It was in structure. It’s very easy to lose control, discipline, tactical things in a game like this.

“When we don't score the first goal, it’s easy to get frustrated, to start to complicate things, to go for the individual etc. Again, even though we didn’t score, the positioning of the players was good.” Moylan’s treble concludes a stunning season for the former Shelbourne attacker, having hit double figures during Lincoln City’s march into next season’s Championship.

"I know it is a cliche but you do dream of these days as a kid,” he said after becoming the first player since David Kelly in 1986 to crown his bow with a hat-trick.

“Sitting in my hotel room all day today, I knew it could go one way or the other. You can have a really bad game and it could go against you but you have to back your quality.

"To do it on this day, best day of my life."