Heimir Hallgrimsson gives detailed position-by-position breakdown of his Ireland squad for Bulgaria

Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has revealed his 23-man squad for the upcoming Nations League promotion-relegation decider against Bulgaria.

The Boys in Green play away in Plovdiv next Thursday before the return game at Aviva Stadium on Sunday week.

Watford duo James Abankwah and Rocco Vata have been called up for the first time while QPR’s Jimmy Dunne will look to win his first cap, having been in squads before.

This is the squad that Hallgrimsson has picked:

Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (Middlesbrough, on loan from AFC Bournemouth), Gavin Bazunu (Standard Liége, on loan from Southampton).

Defenders: Jake O'Brien (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town), Jimmy Dunne (Queens Park Rangers), James Abankwah (Watford, on loan from Udinese), Robbie Brady (Preston North End), Callum O'Dowda (Cardiff City).

Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Burnley), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Mark Sykes (Bristol City), Will Smallbone (Southampton), Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough)

Attackers: Evan Ferguson (West Ham United, on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion), Adam Idah (Celtic), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Sinclair Armstrong (Bristol City), Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion), Rocco Vata (Watford).

And speaking at FAI headquarters today, Hallgrimsson gave a detailed position by position breakdown of the selection issues he faced in arriving to his final choice.

HALLGRIMSSON ON…..

GOALKEEPERS

Hallgrimson: “The goalkeepers are the usual ones, Mark (Travers) and Caoimhin (Kelleher). Max O'Leary and his spouse are expecting a kid really soon, so me and him decided that it's better for him to take this camp off, a kind of joint decision on that one. Some things are more important in life than football, and family is definitely one of those.

“It gives us a chance to call in Gavin Bazunu. I gave him a call and asked if he would be ready to come in, and he was really excited. He was more than read to come in, so it gives us a chance as we have never worked with him. It will be nice for us to work with him and know his character.

RIGHT-BACKS

Hallgrimsson: “That situation has changed from the past. We have a lot of players now playing in the right-back position on a regular basis at a high level. Matt Doherty, of course, is playing all the minutes for Wolves and has been really good, Jake O'Brien the same for Everton. He's been impressive since he was asked to play the right-back position.

“And we added Jimmy Dunne as well, who is playing now for QPR and has been impressive as well. So we have both Jake and Jimmy who can play centre-back and right-back positions. On top of that, Dara O’Shea has been asked to play there on a couple of occasions for Ipswich, so we are pretty well covered at right-back position.

“Even Seamus Coleman is back to fitness and was in the [Everton] squad against Wolves, but he hasn't played for a long time. I spoke to him yesterday and he was obviously not thrilled with not being in the squad. He always wants to be in the squad like everybody should, but understood that we would select Matt and Jake.

CENTRE-BACKS

Hallgrimsson: “Liam Scales is both injured and suspended for the first game, so we have to leave him out. It gives us a chance to call in James Abankwah, an exciting player who has been playing really well for Watford of late, been Man of the Match on a couple of occasions and really impressed us, so it gives us a chance to bring him in and see what he can do in our environment. And then Dara O’Shea and Nathan Collins are playing every minute for their clubs.

LEFT-BACK

Hallgrimsson: “It’s the same as before, Callum O’Dowda and Robbie Brady. I've said it before but I've been really impressed with Robbie as a senior player and how he has acted in our camps as a leader, so I'm really happy with the left-backs. We have more players – like Ryan Manning – playing in the Premier League; Enda Stevens is playing for Stoke now, so it's a position that we're well covered in.

Josh Honohan, I don’t know the past but from what I have seen he has progressed a lot this year from the first game I was watching in the Conference League. He is on a good trajectory in his career so just continue to do what he is doing, that is the key.

MIDFIELDERS

Hallgrimsson: “The midfielders are more or less the same as we have had. Jayson Molumby is suspended and is ready, if called upon, for the second game. Andy Moran is really close to being in our squad. He's one of the players that should grow with the team going forward, but at this stage, we opted for the guys you see in the squad

WINGERS

Hallgrimsson: “The winger position has been a little bit worrying for us, with a lot of injuries for our wingers, Chieo (Ogbene), Jamie McGrath, Sammie (Szmodics) had ankle surgery and Festy (Ebosele) as well is injured, so there’s a lot of absentees in that position.

“It gives us a chance to call in Rocco Vata, who has had really good performances for Watford as well, so a guy who can win games, give us something different, has scored a few really nice goals this season. It’s nice to see him in our environment, we're looking forward to working with him.

STRIKERS

Hallgrimsson: “Up front, it’s the usual picks. Tom Cannon is a little bit injured now, so he's not available for a call-up, and that gives us a chance to call in Sinclair Armstrong, another guy playing really well for his club. He's a little bit different from the strikers we have - lightning speed, strong, physical, et cetera – so for us, a really exciting squad.

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