Hallgrímsson admits Israel controversy has taken attention away from Kosovo game

The Republic of Ireland’s Nations League build-up began with an argument between an official from the Kosovo FA and a cameraman inside the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina.“Maybe it is the camera that is not working?” the official wondered as Heimir Hallgrímsson and Ireland captain Dara O’Shea waited in the wings.“It is not the camera. Everybody has a problem here.”RTÉ got the press conference going by noting the defence of Heimir Hallgrímsson by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who spoke at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday after a critical social media post about the Ireland manager by the Israeli FA.READ MOREThat was in response to Hallgrímsson saying “We are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide” in reference to the matches against Israel on Sunday in Debrecen, Hungary and behind closed doors in Serbia on October 4th.“We are very grateful for the support we have,” Hallgrímsson replied. “It has created and taken over the headlines, what I said in the last press conference. It is taking the attention away from what is most important, the game against Kosovo.“Maybe from a leadership point of view it was not clever for me to take the attention [away]. I need to be focused on the game, the players need to be focused on the game, but to answer the question, we’re thankful for all the support we get. It’s a tricky time for us.”The Ireland press officer took the unusual step of switching to the Kosovo media to ask about Thursday’s game. Hallgrímsson’s long answer about Kosovo climbing up the Fifa world rankings to 78th and the subsequent translation was followed by another question from a local reporter about the key players Ireland will face.Again, Hallgrímsson gave a sustained reply noting the current form of Fenerbahçe striker Vedat Muriqi.[ Israel FA says Heimir Hallgrímsson’s genocide comments embody ‘stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy’Opens in new window ]Republic of Ireland captain Dara O’Shea at a press conference at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina, Kosovo, on Wednesday. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Off the Ball got the microphone next, to ask Ireland captain Dara O’Shea about the protests this week outside the team hotel in Castleknock ahead of the Israeli fixtures.“Obviously there’s been a lot of noise around this week,” said O’Shea. “The good thing we have as players is when we step into the squad on a Sunday night, you’re in the international bubble straight away.“We’ve all tried to stay off social media as much as possible and stay together. We’ve got a massive game tomorrow. Kosovo are a great side. We spoke already at the start of the week that we’re going to come together on Friday and discuss [the Israel game] as a group.“I don’t think we’ll be doing our job properly if we didn’t put our full focus into the Kosovo game. Once the game’s over and Friday comes, we’re all going to come together as one.”“Yeah, of course it’s a difficult situation and an unusual one for ourselves to find ourselves in,” O’Shea added. “But I think for me, first and foremost, at club level or international level, it’s important that we all do come together and we all speak openly.“We’ve got to respect each other’s opinions and each other’s views and really sit down and take the time because it deserves the time to talk about. It’s the main thing and it’s something that can’t be brushed over. Yeah, I do think that, you know, whatever decision that we go through as players is taken as one and everybody’s views is respected as well.”Hallgrímsson noted that a draw against Kosovo would be a satisfactory result before moving to Hungary this weekend for the first match against Israel. That game will be behind closed doors on Sunday but 1,200 Irish fans are expected tomorrow at the 19,000-seat sold-out arena in Pristina.[ Killian Phillips called into Ireland squad for Nations League matchesOpens in new window ]