FAI chief football officer Marc Canham convinced Heimir Hallgrimsson is a 'really good fit' for Republic of Ireland

FAI chief football officer Marc Canham hopes to see "positive progress" under Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson after a disappointing start to his tenure.

The new Ireland boss oversaw consecutive 2-0 home defeats in the Nations League to England and Greece, with clashes against Finland and the Greeks to come next month away from home.

While Ireland were outclassed against England, the manner of the loss to Greece drew criticism and the majority of the Aviva Stadium crowd had departed before the full-time whistle.

Canham, who recently moved in the new job title of chief football officer having previously been the director of football, feels there is no reason to panic with the new regime.

He told RTÉ Sport: "We appointed Heimir for the Nations League and World Cup so it's very early days in terms of those first two performances.

"The beauty of football is there is always a few games around the corner so we have games coming up.

"We hope we see positive progress in the development of the team and ultimately start to pick up results.

"That is important for Irish football, for the fans and public, who want to see as much as we do a successful Irish team playing here at the Aviva Stadium and major tournaments

"You always have to balance between the short-term and long-term. As I've said before, we believe Heimer is a really good fit for Irish football to move up rankings which is really important in terms of qualification. We believe he can take us forward over the next couple of years and hopefully even further beyond that."

Canham was initially appointed director of football with the FAI in June 2022 before changing position last month.

Asked what led to the new post, he said: "My role is everything from grassroots