Stephen Kenny's Ireland takes shape ahead of first test in Bulgaria

As is usually the way with these things, it was an absentee whose name grabbed the attention.

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Stephen Kenny insists he won't be a slave to any one system but that shouldn't be mistaken for a man scrambling for a blueprint ahead of his first assignments next month with Nations League games away to Bulgaria and at home to Finland.

Yesterday's squad announcement, his first in the senior post, was a join-the-dots journey through his thought process. There were crumbs of comfort for some players who didn't make it and food for thought in a succession of answers that offered access to his wider ambitions.