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AS IRELAND’S PLAYERS collapsed in delerium on top of Troy Parrott in the chaotic aftermath of yesterday’s winning goal, one member of the squad was remaining calm.
A video shared by the FAI’s communications manager showed manager Heimir Hallgrímsson beaming with a smile but walking serenely towards the pile of Irish players lying on the touchline.
The grey-haired Hallgrímsson emerges from the left of the shot and is ambling by himself until another staff member grabs him into a warm embrace.
The phrase coolness personified is often thrown around but relative to the emotion happening around him it’s hard not to apply it to the Irish boss.
It just means so, so much, best moment ever 🇮🇪💚 pic.twitter.com/tXD5mz4VKF
— Kieran Crowley (@KieranCrowley1) November 16, 2025
For Hallgrímsson, as he said himself yesterday, has seen it all before.
Before his Irish gig, the Icelandic former defender was best known as being the assistant manager of his own national team when they had their biggest moment in football.
After qualifying for the Euro 2016 tournament in France, Iceland emerged from their group to face England in the round-of-16.
Their 2-1 win against England was the most famous result in the country’s history and their thunderclap celebration was among the abiding memories of the tournament.
To get to that point though, Iceland had previously beat Austria during the group stages with a last-minute goal. It was a moment Hallgrímsson noted when he was asked yesterday whether had he ever experienced anything like yesterday’s result in Budapest.
“Yea, sorry to say,” he replied.
In the dying minutes, Iceland scored against Austria at the Euro finals. It was identical to this one. These are the moments you remember for the rest of your life.
The answer was emblematic of an attitude that Hallgrímsson tried to foster in the aftermath of yesterday’s win in urging players to savour the moment while staying calm himself.
During yesterday’s post-match press conference, he told his players to remember those who stuck with them through the bad times.
His team had started the current qualifying campaign poorly, losing two out of the first three games, including a disastrous 2-1 loss away to Armenia.
“We need to give thanks to the people that have supported the players and given belief in this team,” Hallgrímsson said.
In these moments you will have a lot of friends, they are not the friends who will call you and pick you up and give you energy when you lose games.
“It’s easy to lose yourself, it’s easy to be happy with yourself and enjoy all the text messages you get now. Remember those who have supported you in bad times.”
Before becoming Ireland boss, Hallgrímsson was the coach of a club side in Qatar and then manager of the Jamaican national team.
He was announced as the manager of the Ireland men’s football team in October 2024 after a 230-day search for Stephen Kenny’s successor.
Hallgrímsson is a practising dentist who had earned the qualification after his playing days and continued it part-time as he entered management. He has maintained his dentistry practice in Iceland while Ireland manager and still treats patients.
The day job had become somewhat of a stick to beat Hallgrímsson with as his position with Ireland looked under threat, but is now being viewed in a completely different context. Even Eamon Dunphy has been forced to eat humble pie.
Hallgrímsson’s contract as Ireland manager was set to expire at the end of this qualifying campaign. That end could have been yesterday but it now continues until at least next March when the play-offs take place.
After the past week however, any doubts that he will be offered an extension appear to have evaporated. It’s therefore likely that the job of Ireland boss is his to keep even if the team fails to qualify for next summer’s World Cup.
If he was to sign on the dotted line to remain, it would take Hallgrímsson up to Euro 2028, a big chunk of which is being hosted in Dublin and for which we therefore have a very good chance of participating.
It would appear that the dentist is indeed here to stay.
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