Back in mid-December, Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson spoke on the possibility of calling up Shamrock Rovers players to the national squad.
While he praised the Hoops and their players for their impressive run in Europe, he did express his wish that they would get a move out of the League of Ireland.
He said: “(It would be) easier to pick them if they are playing regularly before the national team comes together, but I’m pretty sure a lot of teams in Europe are watching them, ‘who are these guys’ going this far, doing this good in the tournament’.
“So probably there is a lot of scouting on those players at the moment so hopefully they will get career change from this success.”
Following Rovers' loss to Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon, Hoops boss Stephen Bradley slammed the Ireland boss for his words.
As reported by Gavin Cooney of the42, Bradley stated: "His comments regarding our players moving to give themselves a chance to play for the Ireland team is absolutely ridiculous and so out of touch with what we need.
"We are trying to grow a league and entice players to stay here longer..and that comes out of our national team manager's mouth. It's incredible."