{"id":364211,"date":"2026-03-25T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/364211\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:03:08","slug":"ireland-move-hasnt-just-been-a-flick-of-the-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/364211\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland move hasn’t just been a flick of the switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Heimir Hallgrimsson’s plan to get Harvey Vale on board might have been a year in the making<\/a>, the QPR midfielder had been considering a switch from England to the Republic of Ireland for a lot longer.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old is the brand new face within the Irish senior squad that has landed in Prague for Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Czechia.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was a close-run thing whether the Chelsea youth graduate would get the stamp of approval from FIFA in time.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the green light arrived the week before last, allowing the Ireland manager to call him into his 25-man squad.<\/p>\n

The journey from England’s ranks to the Boys in Green “hasn’t just been a flick of the switch”, according to Vale.<\/p>\n

It had been in the works over the last five years, with further encouragement from FAI talent scout Mark O’Toole and ex-Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan, who was a coach during part of his loan spell at Bristol Rovers in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

Latterly, it’s been now Ireland and club team-mate Jimmy Dunne who had been talking to him about his decision.<\/p>\n

\"Harvey
\nQPR colleague Jimmy Dunne (R) is an immediately familiar face for Vale in the Ireland camp<\/p>\n

“It had been in the running for a few years, I’d got my citizenship during Covid and that took a really long time. I think that took 18 months just to get that,” said Vale after training with his new international team-mates for the first time on Monday.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely been on my mind for a good few years now.”<\/p>\n

Vale, who was born in West Sussex, had enjoyed underage success with England, captaining the Three Lions to glory at the European Championships in 2022.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t about being good enough or anything like that, I was in the (English) set-up, I was sort of playing every game. It was during Covid and there was a year during Covid when international football fully stopped,” he said of why he opted not to pursue a career within the English system.<\/p>\n

“I got the citizenship and everything and then we come out of that and I get in the Championship, and it just felt like it was the right time. I’m super connected to Ireland and I feel like it was a privilege to play for them.”<\/p>\n

The connection to Ireland stems from his Kerry-born-and-raised grandfather Michael, who moved to London as a teenager. Then it was onto Australia for work for many a year before eventually returning to London. Vale remains very close to him.<\/p>\n

“I was over to Australia to visit him and we always talked about sort of coming over to Ireland together as well. I called him straight away as soon as I found out this (call-up) could be happening and when it did happen, it’s such a proud moment for him and for my family and for my parents,” he said, adding that Michael won’t be in Prague as unfortunately it is “tough for him to travel” for health reasons.<\/p>\n

Sentiment aside, Vale is hoping to make an impact as Ireland look to emerge from the play-offs with a World Cup ticket booked.<\/p>\n

\"Republic
\nHarvey Vale arriving at the Irish team hotel in Dublin on Sunday<\/p>\n

He’s been in stellar form over the last few weeks for QPR, with a goal and four assists in the last two Championship games against Leicester and Portsmouth respectively.<\/p>\n

Vale has been deployed from the right flank more recently but has also regularly played off the centre-forward too.<\/p>\n

It won’t be dissimilar to how Hallgrimsson plans to use him if called upon, and he will also be among the list of potential set-piece takers.<\/p>\n

“I could be anywhere if needed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think the group sees me as that right wing, number 10, just behind the striker role. That’s the role where I’ve played the most this season so I probably feel most comfortable there. But I have played a lot of positions and I’m obviously willing to play anywhere.<\/p>\n

“I have been in good form recently, have got a few goals and assists in the last few games. I’ll always work, 100% work my nuts off, but it is that little bit of quality, whether it is a shot or a pass when we need it.”<\/p>\n

While Vale might be new to the squad, he did follow the journey to date including the famous night in Budapest that paved the way for this Prague mission.<\/p>\n

“I remember watching them on the telly. What can you say, speechless, wow,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That was a moment that united everyone and if we can bring that spirit into the next two games, we have a real chance.<\/p>\n

And the buzz that this week has generated has not been lost on the newcomer.<\/p>\n

“You definitely felt it on the plane as soon as you landed and speaking to Jimmy (Dunne) as well on the plane over,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is a massive week, but we are ready for it. The boys have been prepping for it for a very long time, I have just come in, but I want it just as much as everyone else, so I am just really excited for it.<\/p>\n

“(Qualifying would) be unbelievable, it will be something that stays with you forever, will stay with this country forever and we are going to do our best to do that.”<\/p>\n

Watch Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player from 7pm on Thursday, 26 March. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app or listen to commentary on RT\u00c9 Radio 1.<\/p>\n

\n

Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Heimir Hallgrimsson’s plan to get Harvey Vale on board might have been a year in the making,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-364211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}