Eoin Harrington reporting from Ireland camp at FAI HQ
On Thursday, Heimir HallgrÃmsson named his Ireland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying double-header against Portugal and Armenia.
HallgrÃmsson has made seven changes to the squad from the September window, with some forced by injuries.
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Matt Doherty, Jason Knight, and Bosun Lawal are all doubts for next month’s window too, having been ruled out through injury. Killian Phillips, Johnny Kenny, Jimmy Dunne, and Josh Honohan have all been dropped.
In their place come Troy Parrott, Séamus Coleman, John Egan, Callum O’Dowda, Will Smallbone, Jayson Molumby, and Festy Ebosele.
All of which means that HallgrÃmsson has named a squad without any League of Ireland representatives, despite the injury concerns in his squad.
“We don’t have many players playing in the Premier League,” said Heimir HallgrÃmsson at Thursday’s Ireland squad announcement.
“If they had Premier League quality, they would properly be playing in the Premier League. They have good qualities, but if you compare us, for example, to Portugal, almost every [Portugal] player is playing Champions League every week.
“It’s different in the level we are playing, but still we can have a good squad, a good team…somebody else will have more individual performances.”
It was then put to HallgrÃmsson that some of the few contenders to make the Ireland squad who were playing European football came from League of Ireland sides, including recent call-up Josh Honohan.
“They were not the next ones in, to be honest,” HallgrÃmsson said when asked if any Shamrock Rovers or Shelbourne players had entered his consideration.
There are always a lot of players in contention. We have a big squad, we’re watching a lot of players.
As I’ve said so many times, the League of Ireland is improving all the time. With two teams now playing in the Conference League, it will so much help the league, not just this year but in the future as well. More players will come into contention of coming into the squad, only for playing a longer season. That will help them.
We called in [Callum] O’Dowda, who has been playing well in Europe as well and in a big league. We selected him and we took Séamus [Coleman] on the right-side.
Again, for me, it is obvious that there was more quality there.
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Heimir HallgrÃmsson’s comments rankle League of Ireland fans
2 October 2025; Head coach Heimir HallgrÃmsson during a Republic of Ireland squad announcement at FAI Headquarters in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
In previous years, an international squad without any LOI players would not necessarily have been a surprise.
However, with both Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers getting their campaigns underway in the league phase of the Conference League on Thursday night, there may have been some expectation that an injury-hit Ireland squad might have seen some representation from the league.
There have been some impressive performers from other clubs up and down the country this season, with several eager Bohemians fans putting forward top performer Dawson Devoy as an option.
The exclusion of Shamrock Rovers’ Josh Honohan is especially noteworthy, given his late call-up in September and the injuries to regular full-backs Matt Doherty and Robbie Brady.
Honohan may yet earn a late call-up, with Callum O’Dowda injured on Europa League duty with Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros on Thursday evening.
At Thursday’s press conference, Heimir HallgrÃmsson was asked whether the likes of Honohan had been considered for inclusion. His response, on the “quality” of the league, did not exactly speak highly of his faith in players lining out domestically.
A cursory glance at League of Ireland Twitter would suggest the comments have not gone down too well with fans.
The comments are by no means incendiary, but certainly come across as somewhat dismissive from a manager who has sought to make appearances at League of Ireland grounds and has called up Honohan for past camps.
Heimir HallgrÃmsson has previously clashed with Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley on his view of League of Ireland players.
Bradley called out HallgrÃmsson in February, claiming that the Ireland head coach had called on high-performing players in the league to play abroad if they wanted a senior international call-up.
HallgrÃmsson later cleared up his comments at a press conference in March.
My English isn’t perfect, but if I said it in a wrong way, I am sorry for that.
That’s absolutely not my feeling. If you look at my past as a national team coach, I have regularly taken domestic players. Whether it was the Iceland players or the Jamaica players from the domestic leagues. Just to shake the boat a little bit and to show respect to the league.
Especially when you do as well as Shamrock Rovers, then for sure, you are playing at the level that we compare with other players.
Especially when you do as well as Shamrock Rovers, then for sure, you are playing at the level that we compare with other players.
If it came across that way, I am man enough to apologise for that, but it was absolutely not what I was thinking when I was saying it.
Though few Irish fans would disagree with HallgrÃmsson’s latest remarks on the quality inherent in players like Séamus Coleman, there is no doubt some League of Ireland fans may read it as another dismissal of the ever-growing quality among the top performers.
Ireland face Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday, October 11th, before a home assignment against Armenia three days later.
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