Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson has been clear on the things we should judge his Ireland team on. His stated intention is for them to be excellent in specific areas – structure, physicality, setpieces, fast attacking among others.
After 15 minutes here, it felt like he had been playing a sick joke on us, as if his intention all along had been to draw attention to the things his team aren’t actually very good at at all.
Structure? The opening goal was a parody of structure. Matt Doherty’s headed clearance came back quickly, it’s true. But the Wolves full-back’s half-shuffled jog out to join the rest of the defensive line was anathema to a successful structure and Ireland were immediately punished.
Physicality? Finn Azaz got bundled off the ball at the edge of the box in the moments before that first goal. Had he been stronger in the duel, had he at least broken even, the ball wouldn’t have been hoiked so quickly back into the danger area and Doherty’s lethargy in getting out might not have mattered.
Good at setpieces? Yikes! The second Hungarian goal was nothing more sophisticated than an outswinging corner from Dominik Szoboszlai and an uncontested header at the near post for Roland Sallai. They weren’t undone by some genius bit of setpiece jiggery-pokery. They just didn’t attack the cross. Sallai can’t have believed his luck.
And as for fast attacking, you lost count of the amount of times – in the first half especially – that Josh Cullen, Doherty, Jake O’Brien and Jason Knight turned back when Ireland had promising situations. Maybe Ireland’s confidence was shot at that stage after losing the two early goals but whatever the reason, it wasn’t the bravado and intent that had been billed.
Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson speaks to Jake O’Brien. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
In fairness to Hallgrímsson and his side, the tide started to turn even before the Evan Ferguson goal and Sallai’s sending off. Those first principles came more into evidence as the first half went on and Ireland came to terms with the fact that Hungary were gettable.
They started winning more and more duels and rattled into their opposition. They had a clear way of building the play, playing long diagonals to Jake O’Brien at the corner of the box and fighting for second balls. They broke at pace and looked dangerous at corners and free-kicks.
All of this got ramped up when Hungary went down to 10 players. All the things Hallgrímsson wants his players to be good at came to fruition. This is obviously a lot easier when you have an extra man and clearly, it’s unlikely that Ireland would have dug out the draw had it stayed 11 v 11. Caoimhín Kelleher bailed them out a couple of times, even with the man advantage.
Hallgrimsson can be rightly proud of the way his team fought back into the game and didn’t give it up as a dead loss, but they can’t let that opening 15 minutes happen again. If they do, his principles won’t count for much in the long run.