Heimir Hallgrimsson's Vision for League of Ireland Players

Heimir Hallgrimsson will take Ireland to Spain this week without a single current League of Ireland player – but he is not closing the door on the domestic game. In his mind, their time is January. If the money and the calendar ever line up.

From Thursday, a 21-man squad gathers in Murcia for a week-and-a-half of work under the sun. It is part training camp, part audition. The trip closes with an official friendly against Grenada on Saturday, 16 May, with a behind-closed-doors outing against Real Murcia pencilled in beforehand.

The group is a blend of familiar Championship faces – those not tied up in the promotion play-offs – and newer names drawn from England’s second and third tiers. Benfica’s 18-year-old winger Jaden Umeh is among the headline inclusions, joined by Lincoln City’s Jack Moylan and others such as Josh Keeley and Aidomo Emakhu. Umeh, formerly of Cork City, is uncapped but already knows senior football in the League of Ireland.

That is as close as the domestic league gets this time.

Despite the noise around Bohemians playmaker Dawson Devoy and Shamrock Rovers’ 17-year-old midfielder Victor Ozhianvuna – with Stephen Bradley publicly championing his young prospect – Hallgrimsson has left every current LOI player at home.

He had warned this might happen. Ireland’s “summer league” status means clubs are deep in their season and under no obligation to release players outside FIFA windows. On Tuesday, at FAI headquarters, he doubled down on that logic.

“It would have been nice but we would be interrupting the league,” he said, stressing the strain it would put on managers asked to lose “probably their best player” for the sake of a cap.

He hinted that Devoy, Ozhianvuna and others could still come into the picture for the Qatar and Canada friendlies, which fall in an official window after Murcia.

His bigger idea sits a little further down the road.

If Hallgrimsson gets his way, the League of Ireland will have a camp of its own – in January, when the domestic calendar pauses and the power dynamic flips. “That’s the time when the squad will probably be made mostly of LOI players,” he said. A platform, not a token gesture. A bridge to the senior team rather than a pat on the head.

He has already held “positive talks” with the FAI about a 2027 January camp built almost entirely around home-based players. He will not promise it yet. The association’s budget is tight, and every extra gathering has to be justified.

But he is clearly pushing.

“Given the calendar of the League of Ireland, it makes sense to me,” he argued, pointing to other countries with similar schedules who run dedicated domestic camps to fast-track talent. A summer league, in his eyes, brings opportunity as well as obstacles. It offers a free window to gather players when others cannot.

“When I managed Iceland and Jamaica, there were always one or two players who would shine in those environments. From then on, they were in the first teams.” That is the model he wants to import.

The debate around the league’s standard rumbles on at home. Last week, RTÉ analyst Alan Cawley voiced concerns about the overall quality in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division this season. UEFA’s coefficient currently ranks the League of Ireland 31st in Europe, and comparisons with England’s League One are never far away.

Hallgrimsson has seen a broad mix in person during his near two years in charge. “The games I have seen have been good and bad, so it can be all over,” he said. The level may fluctuate, but he is convinced exceptions exist – players ready to step up, even if a full LOI camp would not suddenly flood his senior squad.

“I’m not saying if we pick a January camp with 23 League of Ireland players that all of them will be in the next squad,” he admitted. “But there will always be one or two players who can shine and that we like and will be in our minds from then on.”

If the domestic scene is fighting to be noticed, midfield is fighting just to stay stocked.

The absence of Devoy and Ozhianvuna underlines a worrying lack of fresh options in the centre of the pitch. Unlike other areas of the squad heading to Murcia, there are no new faces in midfield. Every player in that engine room has already been capped.

“We have Andy Moran, Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight, Conor Coventry, all of whom have been with us before meaning that we will be struggling in that area with experience for the next camp,” Hallgrimsson told RTÉ Sport. The implication is clear: he may need to lean on double caps and familiar names to get through the June fixtures.

The regulars – Finn Azaz, Will Smallbone, Alan Browne – are still in action with their clubs and will come back into contention for the second camp. The plan, as he sees it, is to cast the net wide now in Spain, then bring the full picture together once the FIFA window opens.

In that context, Bosun Lawal’s injury stings.

The versatile Stoke City player, who made his debut in March against North Macedonia in a defensive midfield role, was earmarked as one of the big winners of this two-camp block. Hallgrimsson had already spoken to him about doing both Murcia and the later games, fast-tracking his development in the process.

“Bosun pulled a hamstring. He would probably be one that we wanted for both camps,” the manager said. James Abankwah, by contrast, still has a chance to feature in both, with Hallgrimsson eager to see him up close as well.

The message to everyone heading to Spain is simple: this is an opportunity, not a holiday. “It is to see all the players, use this opportunity to see all the players,” he said. Places for the second camp, and beyond that for the World Cup qualifying cycle, are on the line.

For now, the League of Ireland must watch from the outside, its leading lights reduced to talking points rather than boarding passes. Hallgrimsson insists their moment will come in January – if the FAI can find the money, the dates, and the right opponents.

If that camp finally lands in 2027, it may tell a bigger story than any friendly in Murcia: can Ireland really turn its own backyard into a production line for the national team, or will the best prospects still have to leave home to be seen?