As for pronunciation of words, knowing them in isolation (broad and slender) and then in combination (phonotactics) and when they are used gramamically is all you need at the start.

Most beginner books are not very good as all they do is repeat the same old, and often wrong information (such as there being a nominative, accusative and dative; declensions that probably no one uses) or are unclear (not explaining what the broad and slender contrast does grammatically)

They also cover almost nothing of phatic (social speech) such as compliments, expressive speech, bargaining -the sort of things people need to be social actors

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

I find the combination (phonotactics) very hard, i often know individual words, but then get completely thrown when they come in combination. I suspect many of my Irish teachers didnt know them too well either, cause often they sound completely new to me rather than very familiar.

your right about the social speech, most the books are very weak on it. A lot of things seem far more formal than people use in everyday speech. I dont think I ever came across things like "Bhí sé ina chac báistí" or "Is cuma liom sa diabhal" in any class or instruction book

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

And that's a pity as without naturalistic speech, then what's the point?

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___