David Kelly: Back to front, back to basics, back to the future – Irish hopes rest on Heimir putting substance above style

David Kelly: Back to front, back to basics, back to the future – Irish hopes rest on Heimir putting substance above style

Rewriting nation’s World Cup history will be difficult task for Hallgrimsson

Heimir Hallgrimsson's team start their World Cup qualifying campaign against Hungary on Saturday. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

History harries a nation beginning its World Cup campaign in Dublin this weekend.

It is a haunting history, filled with ghosts of past glories. The hungry yearning to recreate a lost paradise. An entire generation denied an idyll that can instead only be viewed through the sepia tint of digital archive.