Heimir Hallgrimsson still harbours hopes of future January camps with the Republic of Ireland after opting not to call-up any League of Ireland players into the 21-strong contingent that are about to head to Spain for a training camp and friendly.
From Thursday onwards, a partially experimental squad will be spending a week-and-a-half together in Murcia.
The camp will culminate in an official international assignment against CONCACAF minnows Grenada next Saturday, 16 May, while there will also be a training game against local club Real Murcia in the days before that.
The travelling party features a clutch of Ireland regulars from the Championship who are not involved in promotion play-offs, as well as new faces from the English second and third tiers.
Benfica's 18-year-old winger Jaden Umeh has also got the nod. Along with Lincoln City's Jack Moylan and others like Josh Keeley and Aidomo Emakhu. Ex-Cork City man Umeh is one of the uncapped players that has League of Ireland first-team experience on his CV.
Despite a clamour for the likes of Bohemians playmaker Dawson Devoy and Shamrock Rovers' versatile 17-year-old midfielder Victor Ozhianvuna to be called up - the latter's case even being pushed by his club manager Stephen Bradley - no current LOI player has made the cut.
However, Hallgrimsson had already signposted the fact that the nature of a 'summer league' would make it difficult to do so given any options would be in-season and clubs are not required to release them outside of FIFA-designated windows.
He reiterated that stance once more after Tuesday's squad announcement at FAI headquarters.
"It would have been nice but we would be interrupting the league," Hallgrimsson said of the prospect of bringing in domestic players, adding that some could be considered for a call-up when he names a revised squad for the Qatar and Canada friendlies which fall in an official FIFA mandated window after the Murcia camp is completed.
"I would say it's unfair on some (LOI) coaches to make the decision to play without probably their best player (in order) to have an international cap.
"If they are good enough they will be picked at some point. Maybe my answer to that one is we are thinking and I have always said that (a) January camp is the one for League of Ireland players.
"That's the time when the squad will probably be made mostly of LOI players. That needs to be the next step then, just to help them to be integrated into the national team, and just to make a platform for those players.
"That would be the next January and there’s positive talks with the FAI that we do this and we will just need to work with the clubs to find the correct time to go - and find opponents as well.
"Doing it this way, leaving out players for the second camp, gives spots where if they’re good enough they are, as all other players are, eligible for that camp."
However, despite that talk of "next January", a camp early in 2027 solely for LOI-based players remains an aspiration for now, with Hallgrimsson saying that he could not make promises that it will definitely come to fruition.
But that being said, the Icelandic head coach is keen for it to happen.
"It's a tight budget within the association so we need to be careful where we spend," he said.
"Given the calendar of the League of Ireland, it makes sense to me. That's the reasons why all the nations with a calendar like the League of Ireland are doing it. They try to expedite players who they think have potential to become national team players.
"Being in a summer league isn’t all negative because it gives advantages. This is, for me, one of them. People might disagree with me but this is my belief. I will try push it when I’m here because it gives us one extra camp with new faces.
"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."
Last week, RTÉ soccer analyst Alan Cawley outlined concerns about the overall quality of games within the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division this season.
Hallgrimsson has attended a number of LOI games during his near two-year tenure and when asked by RTÉ Sport about his views on a league ranked 31st in Europe by UEFA's country coefficient and how it compares to the likes of League One, he replied: "The games I have seen have been good and bad, so it can be all over.
"So that is kind of one standard but there is always an exception to every rule on this one and there will always be a player that will be ready.
"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. 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."
The non-inclusion of Devoy and Ozhianvuna does also highlight a potential dearth of emerging options in Ireland's midfield area. Unlike other areas of the squad heading to Murcia, there are no new faces with all of the engine room options called up having already been capped at senior level.
"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 replied when asked by RTÉ Sport about the depth in that zone.
"So that is one area where we might need some experience and have to do double-caps, we will see how we progress.
"The ones that have been in our regular squad – Finn Azaz, Will Smallbone, Alan Browne – they are the ones still playing and will be in consideration for the second camp.
"We will see how it goes but we might need to call one or two players up for this squad, but the thought process is to have everyone in for the second one."
And in that light, Hallgrimsson lamented the fact that Bosun Lawal has had to miss out on Murcia. The versatile Stoke City player had made his senior debut in March's friendly against North Macedonia in a defensive midfield role.
But an untimely injury has put paid to hopes of further integration into the set-up in the short-term.
"Bosun pulled a hamstring. He would probably be one that we wanted for both camps," Hallgrimsson said.
"We had already talked to Bosun before he got injured about doing both camps because he is the one we would like to kind of fast forward, same as James Abankwah - hopefully he can do both camps. That's not the main objective, it is to see all the players use this opportunity to see all the players."
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