KEEP CALM, THE JOB ISN'T DONE

Ice cool Irish boss Hallgrimsson refuses to get carried away

- BY MARK MCCADDEN

THE DUST had barely settled and the tears barely dried when Heimir Hallgrimsson was already looking at the bigger picture.

The whoops and songs could be heard from inside the Irish dressing room down the hall from the cavernous press conference room in the Puskas Arena, as the Ireland manager sat down to dissect what he had just seen.

As Festy Ebosele live-streamed the scenes of unbridled joy on Instagram, Hallgrimsson was as cool as youd expect from the man from Iceland.

There is still a significant amount of work to do if the World Cup dream is to be realised, with next March's playoff semifinals sure to throw up a challenging foe.

But Hallgrimsson was already talking about what was at stake for Irish football, thanks to Troy Parrott’s incredible hat-trick, just three days after his double against Portugal.

“I know where we are, I know what this means, not only for this group,” he said.

“I think if we keep on growing, if we keep on winning, then it's not only about this team and the growth of this team and the chances of going to the World Cup, that will help the FAI financially, that will help then again all Irish football, the women's team, whoever that is.