HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON blew the Republic of Ireland fans a kiss and pointed to the crest on his jacket as he celebrated this 2-1 win over Finland.
Then he began to process what happened, describing his team’s performance as Jekyll and Hyde and insisting improvements will be needed in Greece on Sunday.
The first moment of significance the Ireland boss examined was Nathan Collin’s under hit back pass that led to Finland’s opener.
“It was a mistake, we cannot be angry. It was not a tactical mistake, just a bad pass. Shit happens. Let’s continue,” he said.
“We felt we were doing pretty good at the end of the first half, getting into good positions and playing forward. It was just the final ball, and that’s confidence to get in the box and win the first and second ball. We had a perfect free kick that we scored from in the second half, we’d been working on that and we executed perfectly. That gives the players confidence.”
Liam Scales was the player to deliver that equaliser Hallgrímsson described, and Robbie Brady netted the 88th-minute winner.
“You can have leaders in different ways, some lead by example on the pitch, they lead in the dressing room or in meetings. There are loads of leaders, Robbie has so many attributes and he is still a really good player. I am happy with him,” the manager said.
“I think we showed a little bit a Jekyll and Hyde performance. We had good spells and then kind of moments where we were not doing things as well. It’s also related to the confidence. I think we didn’t start the game well, I don’t know why, but then again as the game developed, we were more on the front foot, better pressing, more collective and better decisions
“Winning gives players confidence in what we are doing and hopefully we can improve what we are doing and that would give us more wins. I think it’s a chain reaction.
“I think I would like to keep on winning, at least,” Hallgrímsson added. “It’s always more enjoyable, and just to see the fans coming here, 1,000 Irish people coming here and just to see how incredibly happy they were with this win.
“This atmosphere, I’ve never seen this, and staying on for a long, long time, just enjoying. Just to see what it gives them is really pleasing and rewarding for me as a coach.
“Every Irish man should have an opinion of this team but I need to be loyal to what I think so I cannot be a populist and swing by everything that is said about the team.
“It’s always better to win, it will help us grow in confidence and have more belief in what we are doing. For me, that’s the biggest thing. It’s not how I feel. It’s about what we are doing and giving belief in what we are doing. Hopefully we can build on what we did well here and onto the next game.”
Festy Ebosele epitomised that sense of adventure and belief, flying down the right wing to take on two defenders, cut between them before finding the composure required to pick out Brady at the back post with a pin-point clipped cross.
“I think you probably saw that in the substitutions. We wanted to go for the win. There were moments in the game where Finland had the upper hand,” Hallgrímsson said.
“In the second half, it was kind of swinging a little bit, especially when they made their substitutions. They kind of had a five, seven-minute spell where they looked really fresh and then it equalled out.
“But I think both coaches wanted to win and took chances, and this time it fell for us. This is what you want from your substitutes. Festy was strangely confident, arrogantly confident in front of one or two players and just took them on, and a brilliant run on the far post and a good cross and then we had a lot of bodies in the box.
“I think that shows the will to go for the win. I think given everything that’s happened in the past, it shows really a good character to come back from a mistake. It was a silly mistake, but that happens in football and you cannot be angry if players make mistakes.
“But the character is spot on. We kept on going and four attacking substitutions and everybody was fighting to get these three pints, so we had great character.”
