Fractious end to Ireland's press conference as Israel rematch looms
Ireland’s press conference ahead of Sunday’s rematch against Israel was ended abruptly after questions about racism from the away team’s media.
Verbals have been traded since last weekend's first encounter in Debrecen, where Ireland prevailed 3-0, with racial incident alleged by both teams.
The FAI are reviewing audio footage arising from complaints by players that Adam Idah and James Abankwah were subjected to monkey chants from the small band of 200 Israel fans at the neutral venue in Hungary.
When the matter was raised by a member of the visiting media in a question to Heimir Hallgrímsson, the FAI presser intervened to restate the denial from the camp, opting to close out the live section of the conference.
However, he continued to repeat the question and threatened to call the local police when the FAI sought to take the microphone off him. “Do not touch me,” he said. “I'm doing my job, you can't take my microphone. We were invited here and we can ask questions."
The Ireland manager had also been asked previously by another Israeli journalist about the midweek incident reported in local media about an attempted hijacking on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
“Do you support an ideology based on murder?” they posed in a query that was duly shut down by the FAI.
The fractious nature of the conclusion sets the tone for an occasion of tension on Sunday evening.
Israel’s manager and player representative will face the press later in the afternoon when its expected claims made by captain Manor Solomon will be challenged.
Hallgrímsson took it all in his stride, avoiding a debate on the fallout from last week’s match.
He even spoke about introducing prayer to his build-up. The presence of new addition, clinical psychologist Gerard Perry and safeguarding supremo, part-time priest Mariama Ifode-Blease, in the camp illustrated their quest for calmness.
“One change that we've done in the last games is before we go onto the pitch we do a little prayer and a huddle with the players and all the staff - just to cool our heads,” he revealed.
“Conor Coventry has taken that part, so he is now called Brother Coventry in the squad.
“It's really good when you go into a high-intensity and big-pressure game like we have been doing to start the game with cool heads.
“Instead of kind of motivating ourselves, shouting at each other and screaming before the game, it’s about trying to cool the players down so we have a clear focus when we go on to the pitch.”
In team news, James Abankwah has travelled but won’t feature due to suspension while captain Dara O’Shea has remained at home. His wife was due to deliver their first child in recent days but he may return in time for the match depending on how that personal situation develops.
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