Picking out the winners and losers in Ireland’s turbulent Nations League window

The window may have closed on a challenging fortnight for Irish football.

But the fallout from the two Nations League games against Israel will continue to be felt for a long time to come.

Winners and losers will emerge as the dust settles on this turbulent two-week camp.

Here’s our verdict on the parties that landed the biggest blows and the ones that emerged battered and bruised from a period that left Heimir Hallgrímsson saying: “I wouldn’t wish any national team to go through what we have gone through these two weeks.”

It might not feel like that right now, but by the November window he should have a different view.

He will have had time to process the two weeks and take from them whatever lessons he believes will feed into making the camp stronger for the games against Austria and Kosovo.

Speaking after the 1-1 draw with Israel, Hallgrímsson said: “100 percent that this team is stronger. The bonding between players has grown so much, there are so many players that have stepped up as leaders.

“And it is in these times that leaders are born. In tough times the true leaders, the true characters step up.”

In the absence of Nathan Collins and Seamus Coleman, and on Sunday Dara O’Shea, who was home for the birth of his second child, players like Caoimhin Kelleher and Jayson Molumby took control.

Hallgrímsson spoke of finding “your true friends” and also “your enemies.”

In a powerful closing briefing, he said: “I think we will look back to these two weeks and say, this was a defining moment for us.

“Every problem from now on will seem lesser than we would have seen it two weeks ago. I think that is the gain from all of this.”

Hallgrímsson, already a hugely popular figure within the squad, this past fortnight has strengthened his grip on the dressing room.

It was a tough window for the Bolton goalkeeper, who stood alone in withdrawing from the two Israel games.

Bazunu will cop some flak for that when he returns to club football, but he will also gain the admiration of many for his decision to take a principled stance.

Once Ireland’s number one, he lost that position to Caoimhin Kelleher when he was struck down by injury, and he is unlikely to reclaim the jersey anytime soon.

But he will remain a key member of a squad that rallied around him after some initially seemed to take umbrage with his position.

A new dad and someone who led his teammates through the toughest of times, O’Shea will emerge from this window an even stronger player and person.

Both on and off the pitch, Coventry grew during this window. In the continued absence of Josh Cullen he has stepped into a crucial position in this Irish team.

After coming off the bench late against Kosovo, he started the rest of the games to bring his caps total to seven.

In the dressing room he has also taken on a big role ahead of games, Hallgrímsson revealed last weekend. ‘Brother’ Coventry, as he has been nicknamed, now leads his teammates in a small pre-match prayer to help bring calm and clarity ahead of kick-off.

If Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Jack Moylan can continue to produce performances such as the first halves against Israel in Debrecen and Austria at home, then we have found our most dynamic attacking line-up in years.

And that’s before we consider where Evan Ferguson, who could be back in time for the November games, might slot in.

Parrott’s four goals in this window, including that glorious solo run against Austria, have him tied with Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Finland’s Leo Walta at the top of the Nations League scoring charts.

It’s been a long time since an Irishman has been at the top of these lists.

As well as picking up just one point from their two games against Ireland, the disgraceful scenes from Saturday’s press conference and Sunday’s match were seen all around the world.

It’s not often that a decree comes from the upper echelons of Uefa ordering journalists to be barred from media events, as was the case with two Israeli reporters.

The FAI is building a case around the monkey chants that were heard to be aimed towards Adam Idah and James Abankwah in the Debrecen game.

The Israelis came out flailing last weekend. There was that baseless claim of racism against an Irish player that their FA conceded they hadn’t reported, and wouldn’t be reporting, to Uefa.

Then there was the allegation that a player spat at Irish fitness coach Damien Doyle at half-time in Backa Topola, and Oscar Gloukh’s attempt at full-time to get to Jayson Molumby, when he had to be held back by teammates.

All in all, it has been a bad fortnight on and off the pitch.

Shame on Uefa for ignoring their own rules when it comes to Israel.

Shame on Uefa for throwing roadblocks in the way of reporting racism.

Shame on Uefa for not having a presence at the Irish press conference on Saturday.

And Shame on Uefa for allowing this sorry affair to have ever taken place.

It must be said that the Association found itself in a desperate situation - drawn against Israel just a couple of months after sending a motion to Uefa to have them expelled from international competition.

But they did themselves no favours on so many levels.

They were too quick - both after the General Assembly vote last November on the motion and after the February draw - to insist that they would play the games.

Then in choosing to move the home game from Dublin to Serbia, citing operational difficulties with staging the tie at the Aviva Stadium, they chose the worst of all possible options.

They denied the players and management home advantage and Ireland fans an opportunity to let their views be known in a matchday setting.

Then there was president Paul Cooke’s assessment that the FAI had “handled the week quite well” in the run-up to the first Israel game.