WHEN asked, Heimir Hallgrimsson had expressed no preference as to whether Portugal or Denmark would complete Ireland’s World Cup qualifying group. Given his last game in interim charge was against them, his assistant John O’Shea was presumably not overly pleased to see Ronaldo and Co prevail in extra-time on Sunday. And the Waterford man admitted that Ireland have work to do before they can trouble the game’s leading lights again. In June, Ireland had just one shot on target in Aveiro and nobody could have quibbled had Portugal won by a bigger margin than 3-0. With a guaranteed play-off for whichever team finishes second in Group F, Ireland do not necessarily need to take points off Portugal to reach the World Cup finals, but it would help. And, although Ireland have now, once against Finland and twice against Bulgaria, come from behind to win, O’Shea is aware that such carelessness will not be so easily atoned for against superior opposition. The No  2 said: “We will have to see out more games, with a few 1-0s, I would imagine, if you’re looking to top the group. “First and foremost you have to deal with what’s next, we won’t look too far ahead, we’ve the games in the summer to look forward to. “We’re aware now that it’s Portugal in the group with Armenia and Hungary, so obviously we are able to do a bit more preparation and a bit of the groundwork in terms of what we will have to do to beat them. “There are lots of good signs but lots of hard work as well . . . to see that resilience, to get that 1-0 win whether it is away or at home against a top-tier nation that we have done in the past and will have to do again if we want to qualify for tournaments.” In Ireland’s last qualifying group, there was no mid-ranking opposition between the heavyweights of France and Holland on one side and makeweights Gibraltar on the other. The Boys in Green lost all four games against the former pair and won both encounters against the latter. A bigger problem for Stephen Kenny was, in the campaign before that, at home, his side lost to Luxembourg and drew with Azerbaijan. Under the new regime, Ireland have again lost all their matches against higher-seeded sides — England and Greece — but have done the business against the lower lights. Wins in both Dublin and Helsinki saw them overtake Finland in the rankings while beating Bulgaria home and away will further help arrest a decline which, last year, meant the record low of 70th looked at risk. Asked what Hallgrimsson had done well, O’Shea — who worked under Kenny — said: “He’s got us winning football matches. It’s an important thing at international level. “His organisation, his principles, all those things you expect from a manager that’s had the experience he’s had, qualifying for major finals. "Those ideas and the simplicity in terms of certain things for certain games, whether it be as we’ve mentioned two lefties, two righties, understanding what things would work, what things we need to shake up the squad in maybe different players, different characters. It’s getting that balance right.” He also praised his communication. O’Shea explained: “We had a good bit of time after the last camp, but we were going to games, meeting players, catching up. “Obviously at some stage we have to focus on Bulgaria, the detail you go into then, the preparation is all done, and it’s great that you can come into camp and you’re focusing on the players as the work is done, and you can build up the relationships in the squad. “You can do that more so in camp rather than on the phone or on FaceTime. "When you’re in camp you get that relationship getting stronger and stronger with the players.” COMEBACK KIDS Evan Ferguson cited his goal and earlier opportunities having arisen from work done in training. But O’Shea said: “Ultimately it’s down to the players. We started the game so well both times and that’s the frustration. “The routines they were doing, moving the ball so well, getting the rewards from it, hopefully it will happen for us to go ahead in the game rather than have to come back, but it’s very pleasing. "The collective behind it was very good and most importantly the players took it on board.” And O’Shea expects a more settled side to emerge. While keeper Caoimhín Kelleher and centre-back Nathan Collins have played all 12 hours of football under the Icelander so far, a staggering 32 players have been used in the other nine positions. And this was after Kenny’s reign which had seen 21 debuts — along with a further six competitive bows — in 40 matches. A further seven players have won their first caps under Hallgrimsson with Jake O’Brien and Tom Cannon given their first taste of competitive action after O’Shea had blooded them in friendlies. FINALISING A CORE The former international, 43, said: “There is hopefully going to be a few more surprises in more players potentially in June and then it’s a case of right, the lads go back to their clubs, pre-season starts, transfer windows are in play “So you have to be ready and test the lads where you go, ‘OK, we trust them, OK, we can rely on him’. But ultimately the core group, pretty much, we’re nearly there.” And with Séamus Coleman not featuring since Hallgrímsson’s first game in charge, formal acknowledgment of Collins’ position as full-time captain is an inevitability. But O’Shea acknowledged that management are keen for him to work on his concentration levels after losing the ball several times against Bulgaria. O’Shea said: “Nathan is playing at a level in the Premier League and showing what a fantastic player he is and it’s just making sure he has that constant focus. Once he has that, there’s no issue. “Yeah, he’s made a couple of mistakes but he’s confident enough to dust himself down, get on with it and make good blocks, great passes, long-range passes and break the lines into the 10s or whatever you’re looking for. “But he knows there is competition for places in that position as well. "He’s a leader now so he’s got to make sure his focus is 100 per cent, not just off the pitch but leading on the pitch too, that’s huge.”