Heimir Hallgrímsson has made three changes to the team that lost the World Cup play-off on penalties to Czechia.
18:26, 31 Mar 2026Updated 18:59, 31 Mar 2026
Heimir Hallgrímsson(Image: INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
Heimir Hallgrímsson has named his starting-11 for the friendly against North Macedonia.
And the Ireland manager has made just three changes to the team that lost on penalties to Czechia in last Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final in Prague.
One of those changes is enforced – Jason Knight comes into midfield alongside Jayson Molumby following Jack Taylor’s return home for family reasons.
As for the others, John Egan comes into defence, with Jake O’Brien dropping down to the bench.
And Liam Scales replaces Ryan Manning at left-wing-back after he sat out the Prague game because of suspension.
So, how did we do with our prediction?
Well, we did say Manning and O’Brien would be taken out of the starting side, but we were only 50 percent right when it came to their replacements. We thought Jimmy Dunne would come in for O’Brien.
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As for Scales’ and Knights’ inclusion, we were spot on there.
But we got it wrong with our prediction that Harvey Vale would be handed a start at the expense of Chiedozie Ogbene.
All the same, we’re happy enough with nine out of 11, considering friendly line-ups are often harder to predict than for competitive matches!
Team: Caoimhin Kelleher; John Egan, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea; Seamus Coleman, Jason Knight, Jayson Molumby, Liam Scales; Chiedozie Ogbene, Finn Azaz; Troy Parrott.