Hallgrimsson happy with positives in Senegal draw
Heimir Hallgrimsson took charge of the Republic of Ireland in September
- Published
Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson says he is taking the positives from Friday's 1-1 draw with Senegal.
The excellent Kasey McAteer gave the Irish the lead in the 21st minute when he reacted quickest after Yehvann Diouf saved his initial header.
Senegal were unbeaten in 20 matches heading into the friendly and got a deserved equaliser when Crystal Palace's Ismaila Sarr scored from close range with nine minutes remaining.
"I'm happy with the performance and there are a lot of positive things we can take from this," Hallgrimsson told RTE Sport.
"The negative thing is we conceded goals from crosses. It wasn't tactical - there were enough bodies in the box but we need to be a little bit more brave."
The former Iceland manager handed a first start to Leicester City's McAteer and he rewarded the faith shown by his manager by netting the opening goal in Dublin.
Hallgrimsson said the 23-year-old put in a "really good performance" on his maiden international start.
"He showed a lot of confidence, took players on and got the goal as a reward," he added.
"I'm really happy for him."
The Republic are back in action on Tuesday away to Luxembourg in their final friendly before the start of World Cup qualifying, when the Irish will face Portugal, Hungary and Armenia.
Hallgrimsson's side are now unbeaten in three matches and he wants his team to carry that momentum into Tuesday's friendly before their World Cup bid begins.
"The big thing from this game is we can play top teams," he added.
"We are disappointed not to win the game tonight, and at times we made them look an average team.
"I'm mostly happy with how we dealt with their possession game, we limited their goalscoring chances and when you play good teams that's an absolute priority.
"If you look at where we are at the moment, and what run they are on I think we should be happy with the performance of the players tonight."