Irish eyes on Ipswich as they target quick return to Premier League

Scribble Ipswich Town versus Southampton into the diary for Sunday week.

Heimir Hallgrímsson and John O’Shea will be familiar faces at Portman Road this season anyway, but the Tractor Boys against the Saints is unmissable for the Republic of Ireland coaches as seven of their World Cup qualification squad could feature.

The campaign starts against Hungary at the Aviva Stadium on September 6th.

There will be plenty at stake when Ipswich host Southampton even though it will only be the sides’ second English Football League Championship fixture of the season. Mainly because both clubs intend to return immediately to the Premier League.

Last season, Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna signed three Irish internationals – Chiedozie Ogbene, Sammie Szmodics and Dara O’Shea – to keep the Suffolk club in the top flight.

A solid plan unravelled when Ogbene ruptured his Achilles tendon against Brentford on October 26th.

The attacking load shifted to Szmodics, who made his Premier League bow just before turning 29 and on the back of scoring 27 goals in the Championship for Blackburn Rovers in 2023/24.

In January, he sustained a bad ankle injury.

Chiedozie Ogbene's injury hurt him and the club in more ways than one last season. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Without Ogbene’s pace and Szmodics raids from midfield, Ipswich became overly reliant on Liam Delap, who appears to be edging towards an England cap despite his father Rory Delap having represented Ireland.

The attack-minded McKenna, having developed his craft at Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, was forced to employ low blocks to stem an avalanche of heavy defeats.

Relegation was confirmed before the end of April.

It can be argued that Ipswich and McKenna became victims of their own success. In 2023 they finished second in League One – the English third tier – amassing 98 points while scoring 101 goals, conceding 35 and only losing four matches.

They wasted no time in the EFL, finishing second in 2024 on 96 points, one behind Leicester City and with an impressive 92 goals and just six defeats.

Last season they came up against the reality of life in the Premier League and finished on 22 points with four wins while scoring 36 goals and conceding 82.

Delap scored 12 times, which prompted Chelsea to pay €35.5 million for the powerful young striker in the summer.

Sammie Szmodics finished as the league's top scorers the last time he played in the Championship. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

A few months back, Hallgrímsson and O’Shea met the Delaps – father and son – in an effort to turn the striker away from Lee Carsley’s England under-21 squad. The Club World Cup in America ended up doing that job for them.

“We just told him we would love to have him in our camp,” said Hallgrímsson, who added: “He didn’t say f**k off.”

Delap was never going to drop down to the Championship. Understandably, Ipswich cashed in and they appear to have convinced another elite centre forward, Chuba Akpom to sign from Ajax for €8 million, fending off interest from Birmingham City, who are among their chief rivals for the Championship title.

Akpom could make Ipswich an irresistible force, especially with Ogbene and Szmodics proving their fitness during last weekend’s 3-0 preseason win over Auxerre. Jack Taylor, whom Hallgrímsson has capped five times, also featured in midfield in that game alongside another new signing, Dutch midfielder Azor Matusiwa.

The plan is for Ipswich to become a sustainable Premier League outfit. Another important player is Leif Davis, considered the best left back in the EFL and an obvious target for bigger clubs.

Jack Taylor of Ipswich and Ireland. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

That is the challenge for McKenna – to recruit players who will not be picked off in the very next transfer window. The announcement this summer that O’Shea signed a five-year contract extension before being named club captain was a boon.

“We have a talented, committed and hungry group of players, ready to give their all as we enter the new season,” said the Dubliner. “I will wear the armband with pride every time I step on to the pitch.”

When Sky Sports pressed O’Shea this week to name the most inspirational captain in his career, he did not miss a beat: “Séamus Coleman.”

Coleman, at 36, is almost certainly entering his last season at Everton, where he remains the Toffees captain. Meanwhile, Brentford manager Keith Andrews has handed that club’s armband to Nathan Collins; Jason Knight is the Bristol City skipper; Jimmy Dunne does the job at QPR and Josh Cullen has led Burnley back to the Premier League. So, Hallgrímsson is not short of leaders for the World Cup campaign.

What the Icelander needs is for all of the above to be fit and in form for a potentially era-defining game against Marco Rossi’s Hungary.

In the meantime, Portman Road on August 17th at high noon – the Tractor Boys of O’Shea, Taylor, Szmodics and Ogbene against the Saints’ Irish contingent of Ryan Manning, Will Smallbone and Gavin Bazunu – is worth a look.

EFL Irish – Ones to watch for the season ahead

Bosun Lawal (Stoke City): There is hype and then there is Stoke City manager Mark Robbins comparing Lawal to Der Kaiser.

“He looked like Beckenbauer, coming out with the ball,” Robbins told BBC Radio after last month’s preseason draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers. “He can play anywhere with the feet that he’s got. They are quite soft and he’s got a really good touch.”

The 22-year-old Dubliner came through the ranks at St Kevin’s and Bohemians before Celtic tempted him away from Watford in 2021, signing him to a four-year contract in 2023.

Stoke could have cancelled a seven-figure transfer deal to take Lawal from Glasgow in August 2024 when a routine medical discovered a stress fracture in his lower back. Instead, the club’s sporting director, Jonathan Walters, stayed patient as they expect to reap the rewards in year two of a four-year deal.

Do not be surprised to see the “Irish Beckenbauer” feature in the World Cup qualification campaign as Ireland have lacked a physical presence in midfield since Glenn Whelan’s last cap in 2019.

Bosun 'Franz Beckenbauer' Lawal. Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Gavin Bazunu (Southampton): A difficult return from the Achilles injury sustained in April appears to have paid off. The 23-year-old’s rise and fall have been spectacular; initially keeping Caoimhín Kelleher out of the Ireland team, his loan move to Standard Liege last season to regain match fitness – as England international Aaron Ramsdale could not be dislodged at St Mary’s – was curtailed by a knee injury.

Ramsdale’s loan to Newcastle United reopens the door for Bazunu under his latest club manager Will Still following an impressive showing in preseason against Castellón in Girona.

“I think he played really well last week out in Spain,” said Still. “He’s done well, he’s good, and I think as long as he’s been as good as he is, he’ll play. The best players will play.”

James McClean (Wrexham): Welcome to McClean’s late-career revival. Such is the 36-year-old’s attention to fitness he was expected to be still playing at some level, but a return to the EFL Championship with the Welsh club that doubles up as a reality TV programme could see the Derryman follow Vinny Jones to Hollywood.

“There’s a burning, f**king fearsome, 5,000 kelvin oven inside that guy that is remarkable,” said Wrexham owner Ryan Reynolds. “One of my favourite players to watch. I grew up as the youngest of four boys, so I’ve a people-pleasing gene in me somewhere, but I always love the guys that don’t have that.”

The club captain showed no signs of slowing down last season with four goals and six assists across 44 appearances in League One as Wrexham finished second behind Tom Brady’s Birmingham City.

Even Hallgrímsson is keeping tabs. “He is a player of interest,” said the Ireland manager in May, “really a character, who could help us at some point.”

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