Stephen Kenny bids to plot Ireland course past Portuguese Men o’war

Manager Stephen Kenny during a Republic of Ireland training session at Estádio Algarve in Faro. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Perched high in one of Faro’s many squares sits a statue of Henry the Navigator, a 15th-century hero renowned for his interest in maritime and trade matters.

Everywhere Stephen Kenny looks in Faro, there are reminders of the region’s sea-faring culture, even at the Estádio Algarve where his team face Portuga tonight.

The architectural design mimics a ship, tilted from a tidal breeze, its stands at either end devoid of roofs to enhance the effect.

By the end of this week’s three-game window, Kenny will know for sure whether his own voyage into the top job in Irish sport has officially run aground, but he has to at least emerge from the first part against the aristocrats without further storm damage from choppy waters.

And, leaning again on Prince Henry vital staples, results are the only currency that matters in the trade game.

Unlike previous qualifiers in Portugal, especially the 1-1 draw a decade ago, the only section giving Ireland a squeak is the staff and players themselves.

Well, at least they’ve been synchronising that message in the build-up, debunking chatter of damage limitation, not that we’d expect otherwise in football speak.

Ireland’s last meeting with a coveted member of Fifa’s top-10 ranked nations ended badly — very badly. And it was the friendly England defeat at Wembley last November that set the tone for two more to follow in six days against Wales and Finland.

Although both teams had players missing, England sliced through Ireland, cantering to a 3-0 win that may well have ended in a landslide margin.

“I feel embarrassed sometimes when I come off the pitch because we’re just losing games, conceding goals, and not winning games,” confessed Matt Doherty afterwards, visibly sore from the scale of the whitewash.

“It’s not nice, but you still have your own personal pride, don’t you? You can still work hard, get around the pitch. I felt we kind of gave up once the second goal went in.

“That shouldn’t be the case. We should still be solid and want to do things right. That wasn’t the case, especially in the second half when we let them clip balls into players easily. They were turning and running at us. We are in transition with a new manager and young players, but we need to wake up.”

If anything, the Portuguese could make life even more difficult for Ireland.

Armed with an array of attacking options, Fernando Santos will choose carefully, likely to unleash Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, and Diogo Jota as his red arrows, completing an English Premier League quartet with Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to Coleman, who missed the lesson by our English neighbours due to a hamstring injury, Ireland have developed as a unit since that hiding.

The last gathering in June, where they delivered Kenny’s only win in 13 games against Andorra and drew with Hungary, generated an upbeat tone.

“I think the summer was good for us. We played better, we had more time together as a group, and we came away from the summer games quite happy. We have come back with our clubs and we’re back here eager to impress.

“We know it’s a tough game against a top nation, but any time I go out to play for my country I’m confident, and the lads will be confident.

“Of course, all of us understand we are underdogs. We may have to dig in at different times, but we have come together as a group and the summer was a big part of that.”

Ronaldo’s pursuit of the goal to send him clear as the world’s leading international scorer had been the overriding subplot before he chose his comeback to Manchester United last Friday.

Major broadcasters such as Sky Sports were awaiting his arrival for yesterday’s pre-match press conference, but the skipper gave the media an equally nifty slip as he intends to do against Ireland.

Rui Patricio was instead sent in to bat, generalising any answers about his captain’s motivations in front of 7,865 fans who will have a Portuguese flag awaiting them on their seat. There should be a sliver of Irish support, based on the sprinkling of green-clad apparel noticeable around the old town.

“It is not a team that only plays in defensive action, the forwards are in a position to come out on the counter-attack,” said Santos, reverting to the stereotypical melding of nationalities.

“We know these characteristics and the pattern of these British teams. For them, the game is never over under any circumstances, they always give everything.

“It takes speed to dismantle this team and if we do it well and are focused, organised, with greater or lesser difficulty, I believe Portugal will win.

“We have quality players, but we need to be a team.”

One aspect Kenny was convincing in before facing his third World Cup qualifier was the depth of his defensive options. His problem is how to fit them all in — a dilemma that is reserved solely for that area.

Considering the manager ruled out Dara O’Shea fulfilling the role of left wing-back — “I’ve never seen him play there” — there’s every possibility Doherty will inhabit that berth, one he occupied in that England reverse.

Coleman fared fine in the last five matches as one of the three centre-backs, but the resurgence of Duffy, allied to his trust in John Egan and O’Shea, means he could be deployed in his club role at Everton on the right.

They’ll be relied on to insulate teen goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu. The Portsmouth loanee’s only previous experience of playing in front of a big crowd before Budapest in June was for Shamrock Rovers away to AIK of Stockholm.

That was over three years ago, but with the limited crowd willing Ronaldo to try his luck from all manner of distances, the youngster manning the stern of Kenny’s tanker is the one most responsible for avoiding another inquisition into the figurehead at the wheel.