Ireland seek Austria win in bid for Nations League promotion

Nations League B Group 3: Austria v Republic of Ireland, Raiffeisen Arena, Linz, 7.45pm – Live on RTÉ2

James McClean might seem like an odd starting point to preview the Republic of Ireland away to Austria in the penultimate fixture of a tumultuous Nations League campaign.

History might not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The last time a football international abutted an Ireland rugby match was November 12th, 2016, when RTÉ had to switch sports a few minutes after McClean’s winner in Vienna had put Martin O’Neill’s side top of their World Cup qualifying group.

The 5pm and 7.15pm kick-offs compelled the national broadcaster to redirect their post-match analysis from Damien Duff, Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy to the RTÉ Player, so soccer fans could avoid having to watch the 52-12 drubbing of Canada at the Aviva Stadium.

The difference, 10 years later, is the test match against Fiji starts on Virgin Media 25 minutes after the football kicks off on RTÉ.

Not a single player remains from either game, rugby or football, although Séamus Coleman – the captain in 2016 – trained yesterday morning on the patchy Raiffeisen Arena surface.

“No, we didn’t expect to include Séamus,” said Hallgrímsson. “On Tuesday [against Kosovo at the Aviva] we don’t know the situation. We have five players on a yellow so we don’t know how many we will have in the squad.”

Jayson Molumby, Liam Scales, Ryan Manning, Adam Idah and Conor Coventry are all one booking away from missing Kosovo’s visit to Dublin. All five players should feature on Saturday night, even if Hallgrímsson sticks to the attack-minded front-three of Jack Moylan, Idah and Troy Parrott with Finn Azaz in a deeper midfield role.

Alternatively, Idah could make way for Chiedozie Ogbene in a more defensively-minded team, to avoid a repeat of the mini-collapse against Austria last month. The 2-2 draw on October 1^st will be remembered for Parrott’s wonder goal, assisted by Idah, and Ireland’s leaky defence coughing up a 2-0 lead.

“We need to be solid,” said Hallgrímsson. “We cannot make the same mistakes we made against Austria in the second half at home.”

Sloppy defending by Liam Kitching led to the Alexander Prass goal before a Michael Gregoritsch free-kick wrong-footed Caoimhín Kelleher. Solidity comes in the form of Nathan Collins, who will return to the back three alongside Dara O’Shea and possibly Liam Scales.

There was an unflagged addition to the Ireland coaching ticket this week as Pete Shuttleworth’s recent departure from Sheffield Wednesday allowed him return to the FAI as an analyst.

Shuttleworth previously worked with the senior team when John O’Shea was interim manager in 2024 and under Hallgrímsson until the 5-0 loss to England at Wembley.

Ralf Rangnick’s side are expected to beat Ireland, even with a mounting injury list, including Prass, Xaver Schlager, Patrick Wimmer, Marco Grüll, Carney Chukwuemeka and the former Real Madrid defender David Alaba.

“We have eight players out injured and six of them are core players,” said Rangnick. “From the last camp, four games in 12 days was not so good.”

Christoph Baumgartner’s return should improve Austria in transition while the 17-year-old Luca Weinhandl could make his debut. The Sturm Graz midfielder is already valued at €15 million, only 12 months after guiding Austria to the final of the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.

Rangnick, who holds the worst win return, 37.9 per cent, of any Manchester United manager in the post-Alex Ferguson era, made an immediate impact after leaving Old Trafford in 2022 by leading Austria to the knockout rounds at Euro 2024 and last summer’s World Cup.

On the 68-year-old German’s watch, Austria boast a 57 per cent winning record from 53 ties, including a 16-match unbeaten streak at home, dating back to the 3-2 loss to Belgium in October 2023.

This presents Hallgrímsson with tactical decision. Azaz’s smooth distribution as a number six was evident against Austria and in the latter stages of the 3-2 defeat of Hungary in Budapest last year.

Moylan’s form for Cardiff City makes him a certain starter and Hallgrímsson was unmoved by Parrott’s lack of goals since he returned to Real Betis after netting four times in the last window.

“I think he has 10 goals in his last seven competitive games for us,” he said

“Austria, I am sorry to say, do not have superstar. But they have such a good team spirit and organisation. That is why they are so strong. The benefit of going to the Euros and the World Cup finals is doing magic for them.

“The Kosovo game is probably more important for us, but we will go for this game, we want to win the group.”

The risk-reward of keeping Moylan, Parrott and Idah together presents a similar scenario to last year’s World Cup campaign when two wins against Portugal at home and Hungary away earned Ireland the playoff in Prague.

The stakes are not so high, although victories over Austria and Kosovo on Tuesday will secure promotion to Nations League A and a second seeding for Euro 2028 qualifier draw on December 6th.

Ireland (possible): Kelleher; O’Shea, Collins, Scales; Abankwah, Coventry, Azaz, Manning; Moylan, Idah; Parrott.

Austria (possible): Schlager; Posch, Lienhart, Danso, Mwene; Seiwald, Laimer; Schmid, Kalajdzic, Baumgartner; Gregoritsch.