They were taking the Olympic and Paralympic banners down from the lampposts around Abbotstown on Tuesday morning.
The signage with slogans including “Paris Ready” and “Paris Starts Here” had been on display since early summer. Now, with the leaves starting to decorate the footpaths throughout the National Sports Campus in various shades of burnt orange and rusted crimson, time had come to move on from those Games.
But for the Ireland international men’s football team, moving on has been the problem. Or, rather, they have struggled to do so. In the last 24 months Ireland’s only competitive victories have come against Gibraltar.
In the history of the Nations League, Ireland’s overall record stands at two wins (Scotland and Armenia), 10 defeats, six draws.
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Heimir Hallgrímsson’s reign has started with back-to-back 2-0 defeats in the competition – against England and Greece.
The squad gathered in Abbotstown on Tuesday for a training session ahead of this week’s two away fixtures – against Finland on Thursday and Greece on Sunday.
Hallgrímsson has made half a dozen changes to his squad from the last international window – with uncapped duo Jack Taylor and Mark McGuinness earning call-ups while some high-profile players including Matt Doherty, Callum Robinson, Jake O’Brien, and Alan Browne have been omitted.
If nothing else, Hallgrímsson has planted a flag with the squad selection – this will be his team, not a side tied to the recent past. But will they be Helsinki ready, will they be Athens ready?
“You could say it is brave but it is [for] the development of the group,” said assistant manager John O’Shea after Ireland’s mid-morning run out. “We need to get a competitive, settled squad. The balance needs to be struck over the next couple of games in particular.
“The age and profile of players, are they ready to come in and really help? Can they stake their claim for a spot and say, ‘This is my position, I want to stay here for the next five, six, seven years.’ That’s what we need.”
The highwire act Hallgrímsson will be trying to perform is blending in new players while still maximising the chances of picking up positive results.
“It’s nearly 28-odd years that I’ve been involved in Irish teams, camps, playing, training, coaching,” continued O’Shea. “Nobody comes in wanting to be negative, everyone comes in wanting to do well for their country.
“Everyone wants to have positive performances, everyone wants to win games. At different spells you will have a rough patch, and the only way you will get through it is by sticking together, working hard and making sure that everyone in the room, everyone in that squad that’s named, is together and fully focused on getting results for Ireland.
“That comes with hard work, doing the basics right and then eventually you can implement different bits stage by stage.
“If you can do that as quickly as possible, then slowly the momentum shifts and you get the wins that you need and the positive results that you need. But ultimately, getting the performance levels right behind it is the key bit as well.
“The big one will always be the result ultimately, because that’s the massive one. If you’re trying to get new ideas across and implement them as well, there has to be a balance with that too - but we want to win.
“We’re going into these games wanting to win and wanting to see what we’re looking for from the group, in terms of how we want to win and how we want to go about it too.
“It’s striking that balance but ultimately any coach or manager will say the result is ultimately the key. If you’re telling me now that we’re going to play terribly but beat Finland, we’re going to take it. You know what I mean? It’s obvious.”
It’s obvious too that Hallgrímsson deserves some time to put his stamp on the team, to figure out the starting 11 best suited to playing the way he wants the team to perform on the pitch. But the spiral of defeats has to be stopped too.
“There is still an emphasis on winning games but also trying some new combinations, new understandings, and getting that in as quickly as possible because next year you mightn’t be able to do that,” added O’Shea. “It’s getting that balance right but also moving forward.”
Moving forward, moving on. Next stop Finland.
Helsinki ready? We’ll know on Thursday.
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