The simplest solution was sitting there all along. Rather than squeezing League of Ireland players into an international window that doesn't fit, FAI director of football John Martin says the domestic calendar itself might need to bend.
Speaking after an FAI football department briefing at Aviva Stadium on Wednesday, Martin floated the idea of creating space in May — potentially through rescheduled fixtures, Monday night games, or adjusted start dates — that would allow Heimir Hallgrimsson to run a blended camp featuring LOI talent alongside League One and youth players. The Murcia camp that kicked off this week, which includes nine uncapped players but zero League of Ireland representatives, was exactly the kind of opportunity that slipped through the cracks.
"If there were no League of Ireland games, this camp could have been a really nice blended League of Ireland/League One/youth player squad," Martin said. He's right. And that's the frustration.
The January idea has limits
Hallgrimsson has publicly floated a dedicated January camp for domestic players before, but Martin was measured about it. Clubs are in pre-season, there's no FIFA window protection, and opponents are hard to pin down. There's also the small matter of player load — throwing someone into an international camp mid-pre-season is a physio's nightmare.
The late-season fixtures that Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne were playing through last December add another wrinkle. Players still competing in December can't realistically be pulled into a January camp. "Those would be the different scenarios you would look at," Martin acknowledged, without pretending any of them are clean solutions.
A May window, carved out by moving a handful of fixtures, makes more practical sense. Players are match-fit, the season has rhythm, and the disruption to clubs is limited rather than structural.
What's actually getting decided soon
On other fronts, John O'Shea's contract as Ireland assistant manager is "imminent" with paperwork being finalised. Paddy McCarthy, who juggles his Ireland role with a coaching position at Crystal Palace, is expected to stay on — but the FAI will wait until Palace's season ends before sitting down properly with him. "We will hold onto Paddy until the day that we can't," Martin said.
The remaining underage coaching appointments — two lead coaches and three support staff — are expected to be confirmed by the end of the month. Crucially, those roles will no longer be grade-fixed; coaches will move fluidly between the under-15s, 17s, and 19s depending on need. A lead coach for the under-17 World Cup in Qatar — the squad qualified for a second successive tournament — has yet to be named, but Martin said someone will be appointed to oversee the June camp, September camp, and the tournament itself.
"By the end of the month we should have announced all of those appointments," he said. That's a firm enough timeline to hold them to.
