Toughness can help Republic of Ireland ‘shine’ says Heimir Hallgrimsson

Heimir Hallgrimsson has made it his mission to bring out the “warriors” within his Republic of Ireland squad.

The 57-year took the job with an image of the stereotypical Irish player in his head, one who fights for every ball and is difficult to play against, and he is convinced he can coax that out of the men he currently has available.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Nations League B2 clash with Greece in Athens, Hallgrimsson said he wanted opposition teams to “hate” playing against Ireland.

Asked if that is how he had view previous Irish teams, he said: “It was always in the memory, I didn’t see every Irish game in the past, but that’s how I see this nation, tough people, hard-working, really honest, willing to take the duel and go into the battle.

Midfielder Josh Cullen is relishing the challenge of making life “horrible” for the players he comes up against.

Cullen said: “It’s something we need to develop. We need to make sure that every game we go into is horrible for our opposition.

“It’s something the manager has made clear that he wants us to be and it’s down to us as players to carry that out on the pitch.”

Former Coventry and Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson, currently playing his football in Qatar with Al-Arabi, was a key member of that side and he is the type of character the Ireland head coach wants to find within the ranks.

He said: “I took Aron Gunnarsson, the captain of Iceland to Qatar. He is still in Qatar. He is the type of guy who steps up in all situations, a warrior.

“I would always use him as a role model, a player who was always important to the team, maybe not the best footballer, but he was always the most important to the team.

“In hard times, you need guys like this. We have a lot of those guys, we just need to bring their confidence up.”