Liam Scales dreaming of World Cup with Ireland after more success with Celtic as he reveals Hallgrimsson ‘pushing us'
LIAM SCALES has dreams of a playing in a World Cup with Ireland after another trophy-laden season with Celtic.
The defender, 26, will lift another
2
Celtic FC's Liam Scales during the Cork Super Cup Dublin Media Launch at JD Sports in Jervis Street Shopping Centre, Dublin
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
2
Liam Scales of Republic of Ireland during the UEFA Nations League B Group 2 match against England
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
And the dominant Hoops could also
seal
another domestic Treble with victory over
Scales has featured 23 times in this league campaign, including a full 90 minutes in the 5-0 win over
Dundee
United last Saturday that confirmed the Bhoys as champions.
And while Celts prepare for another full-blooded Old Firm with
Speaking in
Cork
Super Cup against
Red More on Ireland MNT
'I really love it and it is an honour and as a player it is where you want to be.'
The bulk of Scales' starts for the Scottish giants came in a first half of the season, which also saw him feature six times in the
Since the 3-0 league loss to rivals Rangers back in January, however, he has started just five times, albeit he was out for a spell with injury.
The Barndarrig Bhoy has played all 90 minutes in the last three fixtures for Brendan Rodgers' men and wants to carry that momentum into what will be a busy second half of 2025 with
Ireland
.
Most read in Football
He has nine caps for the Boys in Green, with his last coming in the 5-0
In his absence, the back four has become a competitive field, with
Jake
O'Brien staking his claim amid a resurgent run with
Heimir Hallgrimsson 'happy with character and discipline' in win over Bulgaria but reveals where Ireland need to improve
Scales will be keen to be brought back into Heimir Hallgrimsson's squad for the June friendlies against
And while he acknowledged the competition within the squad, the former
the challenge
.
He said: 'It is competitive all over the squad but it is a competitive position as well.
'All the lads are top players but that is the dream, isn't it? To play with Ireland and to have 50 or 100 caps. I will do my best.'
Scales was given his senior debut by
Hallgrimsson's arrival has not stunted his involvement, as he started both wins over
Despite missing the two wins over Bulgaria in March, Scales is enjoying life under the Icelander.
But he acknowledged that the crunch will come when they host
Ireland have not made it to a World Cup since 2002, while their last major finals was Euro 2016. And Scales declared that the plan is to end that wait.
He said: 'Heimir has been good since coming in and I think now is when it gets important when we are going into a
'We know he wants the best for the group and he is trying to push us to do that.
'We are really looking forward to working with him for a World Cup campaign and hopefully that is the plan, to qualify.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Heimir Hallgrimsson outlines strategy for September's World Cup qualifiers after Luxembourg letdown
HEIMIR Hallgrimsson hopes to experience the joy of six in September — but he would settle for some four play. The optimism surrounding Ireland's chances of qualifying for a first World Cup in 24 years dropped on Tuesday night. A favourable draw in December, the efficiency in which they beat Bulgaria home and away in the Nations League play-off and But a dire display in the It served as a reminder that the chances of his side achieving anything easily are remote. Their qualifying campaign begins in September with a home game against Hungary before a trip to Armenia 72 hours later. Read more on Irish football In beating Azerbaijan in an away friendly on Tuesday, Hungary claimed only their second win in ten games since Euro 2024. But that run of results is more to do with the calibre of the sides they were facing — playing Germany, Netherlands, Bosnia and Turkey twice each — rather than a loss of form. In the same time frame, Armenia won just twice — both against Latvia. They have lost to the Faroe Islands and leaked 16 goals in their last four games. Given the double-headers in October and November each feature a game against Nations League winners Portugal — who complete the four-team group — a strong start is essential. Most read in Football And Hallgrimsson said: 'Four points would be good, six would be better. 'If we get a draw against Hungary and win in Armenia. Probably it would be worse if it was the opposite. Four points would be OK, a good start. Six is what we aim for.' Heimir Hallgrimsson surprised with birthday gift from Ireland fans during warm-ups for Luxembourg friendly It is not the first time Hallgrimsson has set such a target. He did the same for his first two games last September, But the opponents are not comparable and, while Hallgrimsson took a hands-off approach back then, his imprint is all over the side now. Or at least it was until Tuesday when the players did little of what was expected from them. Hallgrimsson said: 'It would have been nice to have a performance. 1 Heimir Hallgrimsson consoling Josh Honohan at full-time 'I don't mind if we would not have won but I would have liked a better performance, more clear progress from what we did against Senegal. 'We wanted the same performance against Senegal. There was a lot of energy in that game. Forward-thinking. Counter-pressing. It was missing here. Whatever it is, we need to analyse. "Did we prepare them correctly for this game? Do we need to change? It's disappointing that we didn't continue with the same momentum. 'We didn't play well but we played away and didn't concede a goal so even though we are not playing our best, if we can get points and maybe wins, that's a good sign.' HONOHAN DEBUT? And grinding out a result explains why, when it came to making substitutions later in the game, he turned to seasoned pro Matt Doherty rather than the uncapped Josh Honohan. Hallgrimsson said: 'We didn't want to lose this game. We wanted to keep a clean sheet. It's important to take some steps and we looked at the bench more for experience than maybe giving some players a chance. 'In this game, it could have gone both ways. We looked more for experience in the subs.' If players such as the Shamrock Rovers man were unhappy not to have been given an opportunity, others did not seize theirs in the manner in which they would have wished. Bar his set-pieces — his corner ultimately led to Kasey McAteer's goal against Senegal and Killian Phillips — who And following that, St Mirren — who he just completed a permanent move to after a successful loan — might not provide him the best platform to nail down a regular place in the squad. Similarly, McAteer was unable to reproduce the level of his performance in Dublin four days later. CONSISTENCY IS KEY Hallgrimsson said: 'It's important to be consistent, for everyone, just in life as well. 'You always want to grow, to use all your moments in life to grow, whether you're a footballer or a person. 'You always like to learn from your mistakes and be a better person after you make mistakes. 'This was one and hopefully we will all grow from it.' Jack Taylor arguably did better than most. He started on Friday and But he is among those who may drop back down the pecking order when Hallgrimsson is picking from a full deck. Aside from those who are sidelined but expected to be back in September, he had, for the most part, decided against picking Championship players whose season had ended at the start of May. And Hallgrimsson said: 'He has been great at times he has come in but so have others that maybe were not here.' FOOTBALL IS ONE-OF-A-KIND The Icelander hopes that, on second viewing, the performance might not be as bad as it seemed at the time. But he admitted his view of where his team was at the final whistle stood in sharp contrast to how it was before kick-off. He added: 'I would have been 100 per cent confident two hours ago but this is football. You can be a much better team and still lose a match. That's why everybody loves this game. 'It's because sometimes even with a good performance you can lose a game. It's the only sport in the world where a third division team can win against a first division team. 'You can look at all other sports, it doesn't happen. We didn't play well but we kept a clean sheet. 'If it had been a group stage, we would have had a point and, OK, let's call that growth. I'm not going to take too much from this because we have had steady growth. 'There are so many factors that could have produced a little bit lower quality performance. When I look at it, I will probably be happier with many things. 'We should do better than we did. We all know that. We're not shy to say it. We need to do better than we did if we are going to qualify.'
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
TV channel broadcasts VIDEO GAME highlights of World Cup qualifier in embarrassing blunder
A TV channel in Serbia has gone viral after a bizarre on-air blunder. Nacionalna Televizija Happy - best known as Happy - was meant to show highlights from Serbia's win over Andorra on Tuesday. 2 Aleksandar Mitrovic hit a hattrick as Serbia beat Andorra 3-0 Credit: Getty 2 Fans watching a highlights package on Serbian TV were instead shown footage from a video game Credit: x But fans watching in Serbia were treated to an unexpected view on Happy's post-match news bulletin. The channel appeared to broadcast footage from a VIDEO GAME rather than the match itself. Happy's news anchor can be heard describing the goals from Mitrovic at the Dubočica Stadium. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL Footage shown on screen however looked to be taken from The gameplay was shown on screen for more than 20 seconds before the segment ended. Anchors on the channel did not reference the blunder, per Serbia and Andorra are both in Group K alongside Most read in Football BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK Ex-Fulham striker Mitrovic's three goals were his fourth international hat-trick. The 30-year-old has netted 68 goals in 79 games for Al Hilal since joining the Saudi side in 2023. Thomas Tuchel discusses England future after World Cup Mitrovic has been linked with a return to the Prem this summer. Manchester United, Everton and West Ham Reports suggest it would take £40million to prize him back from Al Hilal.
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Heimir Hallgrimsson promises not to ‘hang or execute anyone' for ‘boring' performance against Luxembourg
HEIMIR Hallgrimsson insists he is a lover not a slater as he spared his players an ear-bashing. The Ireland boss was hugely disappointed with his side's performance in Advertisement 2 The 58 year-old's side failed to score against Luxembourg 2 Robbie Brady was forced off due to injury in the first half But 'Whatever I would shout now would probably be gone by the next time we meet up.' He also said: 'I cannot lie, we are obviously 'It felt like steps were taken and, yeah, I think we took maybe not a step backwards but we didn't take the next step. Advertisement Read more on Irish football 'But I'm not going to hang or execute anyone for this performance. 'We were really disappointed with the first half. 'It was actually just boring, there was nothing happening in the first half.' Although Ireland hit the woodwork in both halves, they struggled to break their lowly opponents down and gave up chances at the other end. Advertisement Most read in Football Live Blog Exclusive The draw extended Ireland's unbeaten run to four games — but it was a poor way for most of the players to sign off before their summer break. Yet Hallgrimsson reckoned there was no point in reading the riot act to them at half-time or full-time because they know themselves better will be required in the World Cup qualifying campaign in the autumn. Heimir Hallgrimsson surprised with birthday gift from Ireland fans during warm-ups for Luxembourg friendly He added: 'We talked at half-time. It's not about tactics. It's not about formations. 'It was more about attitude — are you willing to do the work that's necessary? The basics that are necessary in a football game. Advertisement 'No matter who you play, no matter whether it's a competitive or a friendly game, you need to do the basics. 'You need to deliver all the work that's necessary. That was just missing, the basics. 'Credit to the players, that changed in the second half, there was more momentum, more power, more energy — still we were not happy but we didn't lose at least. 'I'm not a shouter and we didn't because everybody — and after the game as well — knew that this was not a good performance.' Advertisement Hallgrimsson should have more options to choose from in September, when the qualifiers begin with a home match against Hungary on September 6 followed by an away fixture in Armenia three days later. Veteran Séamus Coleman and Ipswich Town pair Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene will hope to have recovered from injuries by then. And he will also be able to call upon regulars such as Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz and Mikey Johnston who were rested on this occasion because of the long gap since the end of the Championship season. Robbie Brady was the only player from the English second tier not involved in the play-offs in the squad before Bosun Lawal's addition. Advertisement The 33-year-old limped off in Tuesday's first half but his calf injury is not thought to be serious.
