We are not as far off a League of Ireland player being capped by Heimir Hallgrímsson or so he might have us believe.

The Republic of Ireland head coach has allowed the reaction to his December comments, about Shamrock Rovers players having a better chance of playing international football by moving abroad, to simmer.

Hallgrímsson could have started a healthy conversation around the topic by replying to Stephen Bradley’s criticism. I share the Rovers manager’s perspective that the comments were disrespectful to the league.

It also brings into question how much the Ireland manager knows about the work being done, on the ground, to enhance the club game.

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Even from Canada, where I live, the league has captured my attention like never before. Virgin Media is producing a decent package around the games. And there’s a chance to watch teenagers like Michael Noonan and Mason Melia before they move to England where fellow forwards Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and even Evan Ferguson have struggled to succeed.

The next wave of Noonans and Melias might see the benefit of staying home until they are 20 or 21 to play European football so they are ready, like Parrott going to the Netherlands and Idah at Celtic, to perform at a higher level.

The Molde team that knocked Rovers out of the Uefa Conference League included four Norwegian internationals with a combined total of 85 caps.

The League of Ireland is not there yet, but Rovers, Shelbourne, St Patrick’s Athletic and Waterford are travelling in the right direction. If the FAI and Hallgrímsson are to guide Irish football back to their stated ambition of regular tournament football, Dublin derbies like Rovers versus St Pat’s last night will feature plenty of internationals. Old and young.

Marc Canham’s player pathway plan, published last year, asked us to “imagine what it would be like for Irish football if we had a League of Ireland club regularly competing in the Uefa Champions League [by 2036]?”

An academy system would ensure that Irish clubs could produce every international not born outside Ireland. The intention is to keep talent until a British or European club pays market value for them.

Hallgrímsson’s brief is not complicated: qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America. It is almost certain that no League of Ireland players will make the cut for the squad he names next Thursday to face Bulgaria, but when call-ups eventually happen, the player will get offers to go abroad and the club will turn a tidy profit. That is how a functioning system works.

The absence of home-based players in the senior squad is not a good reason for the manager to avoid Shels versus Cork City at Tolka Park or St Pat’s versus Bohemians at Richmond Park next Friday night. Even better, he could make the trip to Drogheda and speak to Bradley in person.

Thomas Tuchel was dragged over the coals by the British media for attending “only” 17 matches in the six weeks since he became the England manager. The FA took this seriously enough to release a statement explaining his movements and reasons for missing fixtures.

Tuchel is a failure if England do not win the World Cup. Hallgrímsson could be kept on for Euro 2028 if Ireland reach a qualification play-off. Different expectations. Different standards.

Hallgrímsson is correct about the inevitability of the best players in a small market earning a lucrative move to a bigger one. That is presumably what he meant about Rovers’ players. But the FAI must aim towards League of Ireland players earning selection to the senior squad; like Norway and every mid-tier European nation.

Ideally, our most talented players should leave Ireland and they should squeeze the most out of short careers before finishing up back at home like Greg Cunningham at Galway United.

Back in 2010 then Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini told then Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni about a natural successor for Kevin Kilbane at left back. I remember Cunningham coming into the squad and replacing me in a friendly against Messi and Argentina. His career was interrupted by a leg break before he recovered to make more than 300 appearances in England, mainly at Preston North End.

Now, at 34, Cunningham is captain of his hometown team. That’s a proper career.

Hopefully, Hallgrímsson continues to express his opinion. After working in Iceland, Qatar and Jamaica, he offers a unique perspective. But whoever eventually replaces him should come from the League of Ireland. If that decision was made today, it would come down to Bradley or Damien Duff.

Eventually, bridges need to be mended with the two managers who regularly lampoon how the FAI conducts its business.

In the meantime, Hallgrímsson has important decisions to make in advance of Bulgaria as Gavin Bazunu and John Egan, both mainstays under Stephen Kenny, are fit again and Evan Ferguson is inching back to match sharpness at West Ham.

Nobody expects Ferguson to finish his career in the League of Ireland but over the coming years, the recent predicaments faced by Bazunu and Egan could be solved by a move home – however briefly. Bazunu needed games to recover from an achilles injury so his agent secured a half-season loan from Southampton to Standard Liege in Belgium. Egan’s achilles tear saw him released by Sheffield United with challenging moves, at 32, to Burnley and now Hull City.

Neither player had many options. If we are to take Hallgrímsson on his last statement, the League of Ireland was not a feasible destination. We’re not there yet but, sooner rather than later, a return home to get fit for international selection should be a no-brainer.