Thanks and goodbye

AND SO Brian Kerr’s career as Irish manager has come to an end. There are those who might consider it “a result” but as Roy Keane might put it, no-one should be dancing and hugging in the streets.

The FAI are entitled to say they gave Kerr everything he needed in the job. But perhaps the one thing he needed more than anything else was time. And he wasn’t given enough of that.

If you subscribe to the basic concept that an international manager should be given two full terms in which to prove himself, then the FAI’s decision can best be described as well-intentioned, but premature.

Kerr was already playing catch-up when he took over from Mick McCarthy in 2003, Ireland having already dropped six points in the first two games of the 2004 European Championship qualifiers. To that extent, he can hardly be held responsible for the failure to qualify for the finals of that tournament in Portugal, especially when one considers that the lame exit in Basel - when the Irish were beaten 2-0 by Switzerland - spoke more of a leadership deficit on the pitch rather than off it.

Admittedly, it became harder to defend Kerr’s record the longer the World Cup campaign went on, the bitter end contrasting starkly with the sunny optimism which had accompanied the start of the manager’s first full campaign in charge.

The comfortable and impressive 3-0 win against Cyprus was followed by a rewarding 1-1 draw in Switzerland. Victory at home, a point on the road - so far, so textbook. Then came the high of the 0-0 draw at Stade de France, in which Ireland’s performance gave the lie to criticism of Kerr as an innately cautious manager.

I recall talking to seasoned campaigner Kevin Moran and he was so enthused by the performance in Paris that he likened its potential impact to the 1-0 against Scotland in Hampden Park in 1987 which had really kick-started the Jack Charlton era.

Kerr’s side failed to develop the same momentum. In Tel Aviv, even Roy Keane seemed happy to sit on a 1-0 lead and the Irish paid the price when conceding an equaliser with almost the last kick of the game.

The return at Lansdowne Road was even more frustrating. For 20 minutes, the Irish played some great attacking football, only for Robbie Keane’s enforced substitution to bring changes in the side which saw the rhythm disappear and allow the Israelis back into the game.

Kerr received criticism for not putting Stephen Elliott on as a direct replacement for Keane but, though a fair point, it was one made mainly with the benefit of hindsight. The 2-2 draw was the first major setback at home and one which would haunt the Irish. And it was the sense of accelerating decline towards the finishing line which ultimately made it harder for the manager to make the case for his retention.

Harder but not impossible. The 1-0 defeat against France, the victory scraped in abject circumstances in Cyprus and, finally, the restoration of spirit but critical lack of quality in the scoreless draw with the Swiss all painted a picture of a team running out of steam.

And when it came to the decisive game, the absence of Roy Keane and Duff were always going to prove telling, even if the Irish restored some of the pride in the green shirt which seemed to have been bleached by the Mediterranean sun.

All football managers, Kerr included, stand or fall on their results, and a fourth-place finish was clearly a crushing disappointment. Most agree the player pool is limited and a legitimate criticism of Kerr is that he was unable to get more out of the hand he was dealt. But did under-achievement in his first full campaign effectively amount to a “sackable” offence? I think not.

Whether a more experienced, battle-hardened Kerr could have learned from the negatives and built on the positives, we will now simply never know. There can only be a sense of real regret that one of Ireland’s most visionary and committed football people, and one of the most successful figures in the under-age game, was ultimately seen to be an under-achiever when it came to the biggest challenge of all.

Now that a vacancy has been created, it is imperative the FAI get the right man. And as chief executive John Delaney indicated last night, judgement, not haste, should be the Association’s watchword when they begin that process this morning.