'Very good' communicator Heimir now winning matches

Another win on the board, and a successive one at that.

The Republic of Ireland accounting for Bulgaria in their Nations League promotion/relegation play-off is another boost for a squad that has been shorn of confidence in recent campaigns. Admittedly, the Bulgarians provided moderate opposition but winning, as they say, is a habit and Heimir Hallgrímsson's side will now look to build on that 4-2 aggregate success ahead of June friendlies and those all-important World Cup qualifiers in the autumn.

In the early days of his reign, Hallgrímsson acted more like a consultant, perhaps feeling that he needed more time to fully acquaint himself with the task at hand, given the short timeframe between his appointment and the start of the Nations League. He's now fully ensconced in the role, putting his stamp firmly on things.

'It can only benefit us having three strikers that are all scoring goals and playing well' - Man of the Match Troy Parrott reflects on Ireland's 4-2 aggregate win over Bulgaria

📱 Recap - https://t.co/OdGJqdInnV

📺 Watch @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/G73PDIIo4o — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2025

The wins over Bulgaria saw his troops recover from going a goal behind, with the manager coming out to praise the character shown. A true barometer of the Hallgrímsson tenure will now doubt come into sharp focus after the upcoming qualifiers, with Portugal now completing the line-up in a group also featuring Hungary and Armenia.

Following Sunday's 2-1 victory against Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium, Ireland assistant John O'Shea summed up quite simply the impact the Icelander is now having on the squad.

"He's got us winning football matches," he told reporters.

"It's an important thing at international level, a key thing. You look at his organisation, his principles, all those things you expect from a manager that's had the experience he's had, qualifying for major finals."

O'Shea also alluded to the fact that his boss does not seek to overcomplicate things.

"It's the simplicity in terms of certain things for certain games," he added.

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"Understanding what things would work, what things we need to shake up the squad with, in terms of maybe different players, different characters. It's getting that balance right."

As a communicator, Hallgrímsson is "very good", says O'Shea, who outlined the advantage this has in the work done by the coaching staff between camps.

"In terms of the preparation, obviously we had a good bit of time after the last camp, but we were going around to games, meeting players, catching up with everyone.

"Obviously at some stage we had to focus on Bulgaria, the detail you then go into, but the preparation is all done, and it's great then that you can come into camp and you're focusing on the players as the work is done.

"You can build up the relationships in the squad. You can do that more so in camp rather than on the phone or on FaceTime. When you're in camp you have that relationship getting stronger and stronger with the players."

Nathan Collins played his part in back-to-back wins

And as for that manager-player relationship, O'Shea said that Hallgrímsson did have a conversation with Nathan Collins after the Irish captain's somewhat sloppy performance during last week's first leg in Plovdiv. The Brentford player largely cut out such deficiencies on Sunday evening, no doubt reminded by management on the importance of maintaining full focus throughout.

On this, O'Shea stated: "Nathan is playing at a level in the Premier League and showing what a fantastic player he is and it's just making sure the concentration element, and the leader that he's becoming in the team, that he just has that constant focus. He's got to make sure his focus is 100% and is leading by performance.

"Once he has that, there's no issue. Yeah he's made a couple of mistakes but he's confident enough to dust himself down, get on with it and made good blocks, make great passes, long range passes and break the lines into the 10s or whatever you're looking for. But he knows there is competition for places in that position as well."

Troy Parrott also came in for assessment, with the assistant boss feeling the Dubliner is bringing a bit more game intelligence to his play.

"I know Troy a long time, his awareness has improved in terms of bringing other players into play, especially.

"I'm aware of his quality in terms of finishing, his touch, his touch for the goal the other night (first leg) was incredible.

"It's getting that consistency in his play, bringing other players into play and being a threat himself. If you remember the other night the quick free-kick, the movement, he is aware for that.

"His actual awareness and his understanding in game play, in-game management I suppose you'd call it, is excelling."

'It can only benefit us having three strikers that are all scoring goals and playing well' - Man of the Match Troy Parrott reflects on Ireland's 4-2 aggregate win over Bulgaria

📱 Recap - https://t.co/OdGJqdInnV

📺 Watch @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/G73PDIIo4o — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2025

Currently with AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie and regularly amongst the goals, O'Shea believes Parrott is good enough to continue his career in a higher league.

"He has to keep on doing what he's doing at the moment' he is playing in the Dutch League and has played European football. The team he's in are doing very well and let's see what happens going forward. If Troy is assisting and scoring goals like he is doing, that will happen naturally."

The calendar for the rest of the year is now complete. Maintaining a winning thread would be great, even if it's by a narrow margin, with qualification for USA-Canada-Mexico in mind.

"We will have to see out more games, with a few 1-0s, I would imagine, if you're looking to top the group, the former Ireland and Manchester United star predicted.

"First and foremost you have to deal with what's next, we won't look too far ahead, the games in the summer to look forward to. We're aware now that it's Portugal in the group with Armenia and Hungary, so obviously we'll be able to do a bit more preparation and a bit of the groundwork in terms of what we will have to do to beat them. Lots of good signs but lots of more hard work as well."

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