Stephen Kenny: 'We made life hard for ourselves'

Kenny’s hopes of rebounding from a dismal 1-0 Nations League loss away to Armenia failed to materialise following a repeat score-line at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night

8 June 2022; Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny after his side's defeat in the UEFA Nations League B group 1 match between Republic of Ireland and Ukraine at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

The Republic of Ireland’s search for a first ever UEFA Nations League victory goes on following a disappointing 1-0 capitulation to a second-string Ukraine.

Stephen Kenny’s hopes of rebounding from a dismal 1-0 Nations League Group B1 loss away to Armenia failed to materialise following a repeat score-line at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night.

Viktor Tsygankov’s winner was scored direct from a free-kick wide on the right wing after 48 minutes. It was a poor goal to concede and one that should have been dealt with by the Irish defence and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

The hosts squandered numerous chances to force an equaliser including a Shane Duffy effort tipped on to the crossbar.

“We made life hard for ourselves and I think we have lost two very, very narrow matches,” Stephen Kenny said.

“Today, there wasn’t loads of chances in the game for either team. We are disappointed to lose the game. For spells, I thought we did very well. We started really well and ended really well but we weren’t consistent in our play for 90 minutes. Ukraine were very good at times.

“It was a real shift from everyone, for both teams. We had them on the rack for a bit as well. They had us. It was just unfortunate, the goal, the free-kick from the side-line that went directly into the net. That was a huge disappointment for us.

“In terms of tiredness and workload, I don’t accept Ukraine were fitter (than us). Certainly, we can play better than we did. We played well in spells. We played a bit longer than I would have liked. We had more time to build up and went more direct than we have done in recent times."

“We have to show a bit more composure in our build-up and try and get control of the game a bit more than we did.

“To concede a minute after half-time killed us. Getting that first goal was absolutely crucial. Obviously, Shane (Duffy) has hit the bar right at the death. Jason has shot over the bar.

“We can do better overall. I am not saying we can’t do better than we did. We still didn’t get to the levels of the Portugal and Belgium games. It was a very narrow defeat and a very harsh goal.

“We are going to have freshen it up for Saturday (against Scotland), for sure. That was a tough game for players and we will need fresh legs in the team for Saturday.”

Republic of Ireland midfielder and Player of the Match Jason Knight didn’t disguise his disappointment.

“First and foremost it is disappointing,” Knight said.

“We didn’t want to lose, of course, but we started well, but need to play like that for a full 90 minutes and get the result with it.

“Stephen (Kenny) was great at half-time but we took a sucker punch just after half-time. We need to start better at the start of each half and that’s something only we can improve.

“We are really disappointed to have conceded from a set-piece. I haven’t seen it back but we will have to analyse it ourselves and put it right on the training pitch tomorrow.

“I’m not sure it was a lack of energy near the end. Everyone was giving everything they had. Maybe it is something we can just improve on, our ball-speed and stuff like that. We need to try and create those final chances that we need.

“I think we did create quite a number of chances; it is just up to us to put them away. We can’t let ourselves get too down. We have to go again. There is another game in three days’ time against Scotland. Another full house, we need to get things right on training pitch and come back on Saturday ready to put on a performance.”