Rice and Grealish on the mark as England beat Ireland in Nations League opener

If, as the banner in the home section claimed, Declan Rice and Jack Grealish signalled the return of the snakes, then they were too slithery for Ireland to catch.

Goals by the prodigal sons, Rice an 11th minute rocket into the top corner followed by a subtle, svelte finish by Grealish 17 minutes later, punctured whatever enthusiasm summery weather and a managerial bounce has generated.

Granted, there were a couple of efforts, one from Sammie Szmodics that whipped past the post, but there was never a period in which the visitors were pressurised, bar some opening skirmishes.

There would be no Heimir Horror Show sequel suffering for England.

As Hallgrimsson emphasised in his pre-match musings, this is a superior side to that from Euro 2016 and the fact Grealish wasn’t even part of their 26-man squad that reached a second successive final of that tournament amplifies their depth.

Another former Ireland international, Lee Carsley, was prepared to trust his starting XI, waiting until 13 minutes from the end to introduce a substitute.

Ireland had made five by then, scrambling for methods of finally working Jordan Pickford in the England goal.

If there’s any consolation amid this chastening chasing, it’s the fact the visitors are in a false position. Despite being ranked third in Europe, the quirky rules to make the Nations League relevant resulted in them slipping out of the top 16 League A.

They had laboured through the easier side of the draw in Germany and Ireland’s prospects of causing an upset here hinged on their replicating the frustration Slovakia, Slovenia – and Iceland in a pre-tournament friendly – caused them.

That slipped away once the preliminaries were out of the way. Grealish, loudly booed by the majority of the 50,359 crowd, along with Rice, was dispossessed on 10 minutes, sparking a move that led to Szmodics forcing Pickford to dive and bat the ball away.

Once Chiedozie Ogbene hesitated rather than strike the rebound immediately, the danger was averted. So too was the case after just three minutes when the ball struck Jayson Molumby’s head, rather than the other way around, from Robbie Brady’s corner.

England soon made them pay. Trent-Alexander Arnold, restored to right-back by Carsley, sprayed a pass to release Anthony Gordon and though Caoimhin Kelleher got his foot to the shot and Nathan Collins blocked Harry Kane’s effort from the recycle, there to sidefoot the loose ball into the roof of the net was Rice.

His three senior caps with Ireland contributed to him not celebrating but the other defector Jack Grealish showed no such restraint for his goal.

This was a classic flowing move that exposed Ireland down the right, concluding with Rice squaring for Grealish to roll the ball through the legs of Coleman and past Collins into the bottom corner.

Goals change games and the flatness seeped in. Adam Idah just couldn’t catch a break in the Ireland attack and when Ogbene finally stretched England with his pace approaching the break, his delivery to Szmodics was overhit.

England continued to control midfield with their triangular passing and could even help help themselves to a few pints of the Carlsberg 0.0 being advertised behind the goal such was their dominance.

Assistant manager Paddy McCarthy issued the instructions early in the second half during an impromptu huddle created by Coleman’s injury which forced him off.

It soon worked, for Dara O’Shea’s crossfield pass to Ogbene close to the hour enabled the winger to tee up Sammie Szmodics who whistled his curler past near post Szmodic then turned provider by finding the onrushing Molumby but he couldn’t keep his shot down.

Any momentum conjured was checked when, even after they’d won a corner, it was scratched for a scarcely spotted infringement from Brady’s deep free-kick.

Evan Ferguson’s introduction with eight minutes left pointed to a brighter future but it has to come quickly – starting against Greece on Tuesday.

IRELAND: C Kelleher; S Coleman (J O’Brien 57), N Collins, D O'Shea; M Doherty (J Knight 57), W Smallbone (A Browne 75), J Molumby, R Brady (E Ferguson 82); C Ogbene, S Szmodics; A Idah (K McAteer 75).

ENGLAND: J Pickford; TA Arnold, H Maguire (J Stones 84), M Guehi, L Colwill; D Rice, K Mainoo (A Gomes 77); B Saka, J Grealish (M Gibbs-White 77), A Gordon (E Eze 77; H Kane (J Bowen 84).

Referee: José María Sánchez (Spain).

Attendance: 50,359