For more than 11 minutes of Saturday's pre-match news conference, Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson fielded questions centred on Sunday's Nations League Group B3 'home' game against Israel in Serbia.

The Icelander revealed that Dara O'Shea - captain in place of the injured Nathan Collins - was not with the squad, as his wife was due to give birth. He may arrive back in Backa Topola prior to Sunday's 19:45 BST kick-off.

Hallgrimsson also gave his thoughts on the strain of this four-game international window and reflected on Thursday's 2-2 draw against Austria.

As the first section of the media conference, which is allowed to be broadcast live, was ending, the mood soured.

One reporter tried to quiz Hallgrimsson on his thoughts about the incident on Wednesday when a co-pilot attacked a pilot on a flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, before passengers managed to overpower the attacker and successfully take control of the plane.

The Republic of Ireland manager was also asked by another journalist about alleged racism by Irish players during last Sunday's 3-0 win over Israel in Hungary and refused to give up the microphone.

Promptly, the news conference was brought to a close by Football Association of Ireland (FAI) head of communications Kieran Crowley after calling those allegations "completely untrue".

The allegations of racism by an Irish player comes after it was confirmed the FAI is investigating reports of racist abuse directed towards Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah by Israel fans in Debrecen.

Minutes before the news conference was brought to an abrupt halt, Hallgrimsson insisted he would not be drawn on either matter and would not "get involved in that as others will process that".

"It is a game with a lot of emotions attached," Hallgrimsson said.

"I haven't read anything and it's not something I want to get involved with. It goes to a process, both in our department and with Uefa.

"Something was reported by both teams so I just hope we can focus on football and football will be the winner after this.

"I have not gone into details looking at this as I have enough to think about."

The Republic of Ireland boss revealed the team have taken to a group prayer before leaving the dressing room before recent games "just to cool our heads before we go on to the pitch" and said that has been led by midfielder Conor Coventry whom he joked is now known within the squad as "Brother Coventry".

It has been a challenging international window for the Republic of Ireland with the Israel double-header dominating discourse in Irish football.

Since the teams were drawn together in February, a 'Stop The Game' campaign was launched by the pressure group Irish Sport for Palestine to boycott the fixtures in protest of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

'Togetherness is stronger than individuals' - Hallgrimsson

Before last week's 'home' game for Israel in Hungary, goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrew from the fixtures, saying "it would be wrong to participate" while a vote by players to play the games passed by a "significant majority", according to FAI chief executive David Courell.

There were protests during the game against Austria in Dublin on Thursday, with tennis balls thrown on to the pitch and a protester briefly interrupting the game when he ran on to the turf, waving a Palestine flag.

Hallgrimmson said under the circumstances, it will be a "a big win for this group and the association if we go through undamaged".

"The most pleasing thing for me is to see the togetherness and how they stand up for each other. Whatever they have done, they have done it with respect to the situation, to each other and after this, this bond of brothers will be stronger than ever. All the obstacles this group will face in the future will be lesser than it is.

"When we look back, this camp will be a moment we grew the most and stepped up as leaders, supported each other and stuck together. The power of togetherness is stronger than individuals." (BBC)

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