There is a light for Ireland and Hallgrimsson as the gloom begins to lift

Irish Daily Mirror

13 hours ago

It was only last November when Heimir Hallgrimsson looked down a big black tunnel and failed to see any light.
Now, eight months after that 5-0 hammering by England, the Icelandic boss stood in the tunnel at the Aviva and stared at a bright new dawn.
Young players are alive; older ones revived; unheralded men starting to thrive.
Three results in a row hardly constitutes a run but given where Ireland were a year ago, you'll take anything.
Here they conceded a late equaliser but prior to that moment they produced ten glorious minutes that represented the best football an Irish side has played since Euro 2016.
Not that we saw it coming because the five minutes prior were so drab it reminded you of the story about Vinny Samways.
Way back in the early '90s, Samways was Mr Safe - a midfielder who stepped into the Spurs midfield just after Paul Gascoigne stepped out.
You could barely think of two more different styles. One would try anything to unlock a defence whereas the other helped his opponent batten down the hatches.
Eventually it got too much for the Spurs fans and Vinny Samways was renamed Vinny Sideways.
Well, that was Ireland for the opening 20 minutes of last night's game.
Yes, they were patient. But they were also boring, conservative and scared - frightened to take a chance or make a mistake. Any pass that didn't go sideways went backwards.
Was this the instruction from the manager?
You'd hope not.
And then we saw it was not.
From the 20th minute on, everything changed.
That slow, slow, passing programme got binned.
Instead Ireland upped the pace, Dara O'Shea firstly, then Jason Knight, followed by Nathan Collins, delivering these stunning, 40-yard diagonals that pinned the Senegalese back.
The effect was huge.
From the territorial gains came pressure; from the pressure, corners. And from the corners came a goal - Kasey McAteer getting it, the young Leicester attacker showing admirable composure to react to Yehvann Diouff's save to calmly control the dipping ball and then hammer it into the net.
Suddenly the place came alive, Ireland's fans rejoicing in the idea of being ahead in a match they were expected to lose.
In many ways they are the real heroes, the 32,478 fans who dug into their pockets and bring humour wherever they go.
They are always positive - which is something you can't always say about the tactics they have had to watch over the years. Remember even when we were good under Big Jack, we were bad (to watch).
But no matter what, this collection of singing, beer-drinking, fun-loving fans have served their country well.
All they have yearned for is something to cheer about.
And now they had it - as, not for the first time in this stadium, a man called McAteer wrote the headlines, but these headlines were about a goal rather than a continuation of a 20-year whinge about Brian Kerr.
It was heartlifting, the sight of this fresh-faced youngster producing a smile that lit up the entire stadium.
And it boosted the whole team.
Suddenly, for ten minutes, we saw the best of Ireland, front-foot football, slick passing and sharp movement when they had the ball, put-em-under-pressure defending when they didn't.
Matt Doherty looked reborn, a year after his international career seemed over.
Robbie Brady was even better while Ryan Manning - a player who seemed destined to be nothing other than a footnote to a lost decade - is suddenly looking like a viable option for the left.
Why stop there? Because Caoimhin Kelleher's fingertip stop from Krepin Diatta's 52nd minute header was world class.
In front of him Collins and O'Shea looked good. Later Jake O'Brien came on as a sub and was even better.
The one bad point was the Senegalese equaliser, which arrived just a minute after Brady had signalled his desire to come off - those 32-year-old legs showing the wear and tear of a long season and an even longer career.
Ireland's management dithered over this decision.
Senegal took advantage, their equaliser stemming down Brady's flank, the fatigued defender unable to cut out the cross which led to Ismaila Sarr's goal.
If that was a source of frustration, the reaction was not.
Ireland dug in for the final nine minutes.
Not that they had much choice, Senegal showing us how powerful force pride can be, as they fought to extend their unbeaten run from 20 games to 21.
They managed that. Truth be told they were the better team in the second half, expansive, sharp, powerful.
An equaliser was earned rather than inevitable because Kelleher was having such a fine game and the quality of the subs Hallgrimsson was introducing was as good as the players they were replacing.
The issue, though, was that they waited a minute too long to get Brady off the field.
And the price was that a victory got downgraded to a draw.
But in Leaving Cert month, if the student learns a lesson, it'll be worth it.