Hallgrimsson happy with positives in Senegal draw

In the 21st minute, the excellent Kasey McAteer reacted the fastest after Yehvann Diouf saved his first header to give the Irish the lead.

Senegal, who had won 20 games before the friendly, scored from close range with nine minutes left when Ismaila Sarr of Crystal Palace equalized.

Hallgrimsson told RTE Sport, “I’m happy with the performance and there are a lot of positive things to take away from this.”

McAteer scored the opening goal for Leicester City in Dublin after the former Iceland manager gave his team the first start of the season.

On his first international start, Hallgrimsson praised the 23-year-old for “really good performances.”

He continued, “He showed a lot of confidence, took players on, and got the goal as a reward.”

“I’m very happy for him,” he declared.

In their final friendly before World Cup qualifying, the Irish will face Portugal, Hungary, and Armenia on Tuesday in a match against Luxembourg.

Hallgrimsson wants his team to carry that momentum into Tuesday’s friendly before their World Cup bid begins because they are currently unbeaten in three games.

We can play top teams, he said, which is the big benefit of this game.

“We disappointed that we didn’t win tonight’s game, and we occasionally made them appear like an average team.”

I’m mostly satisfied with how we handled their possession game because we made their chances score more goals, which is a top priority when you play strong opponents.