I had this presumption there was one thing I didn’t need to change: Irish players will win their duels and work hard. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty ImagesAfter seven years with his national team, Hallgrímsson and Iris moved to Doha to take up residency with Al-Arabi SC. For the next camp in March, I will show the Irish players our plans for the World Cup.”He opens his laptop to reveal the daily outline for this summer’s tournament. “I had this presumption, when I came in, that there was one thing I didn’t need to change: Irish players will win their duels and work hard. Irish players used to win the 70-30 duels, but we were losing the 50-50 duels.

Source: The Irish Times February 28, 2026 12:01 UTC