It was difficult then \u2013 no, impossible \u2013 to imagine the campaign ending in such drama and Ireland coming within a penalty shootout of having a shot at qualifying for their first World Cup in 24 years. Granted, Denmark in Dublin would have been no gimme.<\/p>\n
Ifs, buts and maybes. Ultimately, it wasn\u2019t to be, even if that was the mother of all missed opportunities on Thursday. But if this team had become the butt of jokes in the early stages of the campaign, it ended it with renewed affection thanks to the gutsiness of those performances against Portugal<\/a> in Dublin, Hungary in Budapest<\/a> and the Czech Republic in Prague<\/a>.<\/p>\n We know we\u2019re limited enough on the talent front. All we demand is fire in the belly. We got that towards the end of the campaign, in spades. And we\u2019ll always have Budapest.<\/p>\n The search for a \u2018bastard\u2019<\/p>\n At the start of Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s reign, even before he\u2019d named his first squad, he suggested that while his charges were \u201creally good characters\u201d, they were \u201cmaybe a little bit too nice\u201d. \u201cSometimes you need a bastard in your team. I\u2019m looking for him. Maybe we can develop him.\u201d<\/p>\n Has he found one? Well, in terms of unearthing or developing a midfield enforcer with a mean streak, not really. There\u2019s no questioning the shift \u2013 or number of tackles \u2013 Jayson Molumby and Jack Taylor put in on Thursday, nor the fine form of Josh Cullen before his injury, but that midfield still lacks, well, a bastard.<\/p>\n Such players are not, of course, easily found. Clubs spend upwards of \u20ac100 million attempting to purchase them. If Hallgr\u00edmsson had that luxury, he\u2019d be asking the FAI to put in bids for Rodri, Vitinha, Moises Caicedo or even Granit Xhaka. <\/p>\n That quest, then, remains a work in progress. The upcoming friendlies will provide an opportunity to test the credentials of some of the younger crew, among them Bosun Lawal. Not that we\u2019re calling him the B word. <\/p>\n Penalty practice makes perfect?<\/p>\n In the build-up to the game in Prague, Hallgr\u00edmsson revealed he\u2019d had a chat with Stephen Kenny about his penalty shootout experience in 2020 when Ireland lost to Slovakia, thereby ending their Euro 2020 qualifying hopes. <\/p>\n \u201cI picked his brain about what advice he would give me, but I am not so sure that training penalties would be such an asset, especially when you look at the time we have. Other things are more important. I might have this back in my face if we end up taking penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n Need it be said, in the aftermath of the Prague defeat, his words were indeed thrown back in his face by some, but the age-old question applies: how on earth can you recreate the stomach-churning ordeal of taking such an important penalty on a training pitch? <\/p>\n Ahead of Euro 2020, Gareth Southgate even had his England players walk from the halfway line in training in an attempt to recreate that ordeal. They lost to Italy in the final. On penalties.<\/p>\n Age profile: good <\/p>\n There was a half-hourish spell on Thursday when the combined ages of our wing-backs, S\u00e9amus Coleman and Robbie Brady, was 71. In terms of future-planning, not ideal. But the age profile of this squad is good. John Egan, Alan Browne and Sammie Szmodics are the only other players who travelled to Prague who are 30 or over. The rest have plenty left in the tank. <\/p>\n No huge rebuild is needed, then. The core of that Irish defence \u2013 Nathan Collins, Dara O\u2019Shea and Jake O\u2019Brien \u2013 is youthful. If Evan Ferguson (21) can recover well from ankle surgery and come even close to rediscovering his teenage form, then you could only purr at the prospect a nigh-on decade-long partnership with Troy Parrott (24). <\/p>\n Hallgr\u00edmsson will, of course, keep hunting down fresh talent. There will, hopefully, be more promotions from the underage ranks and the Granny Rule will, no doubt, be employed again, as it was most recently with Harvey Vale. But no major reconstructive surgery is required. <\/p>\n Adieu, S\u00e9amus Coleman?<\/p>\n S\u00e9amus Coleman batted away questions about a possible imminent retirement after the Prague loss. The fella didn\u2019t want to make it about him \u2013 his main thoughts were for Finn Azaz and Alan Browne, who missed those penalties in the shootout.<\/p>\n Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of dealing with Coleman down the years will say the same: he\u2019s an unassuming gentleman off the pitch and a big-hearted warrior on it.<\/p>\n That he lasted 96 minutes in Prague, when he hadn\u2019t played for Everton since November, says it all. Few players have given more of themselves in that Irish shirt. It\u2019s a heartbreaker that he\u2019ll never get to play in a World Cup, but that will never detract from a truly outstanding career for club and country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wildest of rides The build-up to this campaign was hardly inspiring, the final friendly before it all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[56982,7523,4700,61,60,50020,7522,43,1842,48229,44452,4018],"class_list":["post-368630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-czech-republic","tag-evan-ferguson","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jake-o-brien","tag-nathan-collins","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-seamus-coleman","tag-troy-parrott","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368630","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=368630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Republic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TQJNO7VPOQN7E5Q2XMP2KUCMQU.jpg\")
Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson before Thursday’s World Cup qualifier semi-final against Czech Republic in Prague. Photograph: Adam Davy\/PA Wire <\/p>\n![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LKPHLE6T5E2Q7HMJDFFN7J37PE.jpg\")
Alan Browne’s penalty is saved by Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar at Fortuna Arena, Prague, on Thursday. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n![\"Harvey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TMPOEGM4EX5JW5E6ONSXS7LICA.jpg\")
Harvey Vale (right) made his Ireland debut late into extra time against Czech Republic in Prague. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n![\"Séamus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BXTJJ6K3IG4QB3KNL323UFC64I.jpg\")
S\u00e9amus Coleman may have played his last competitive game for Ireland. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n