What has Stephen Kenny learnt on Qatar trip?

Kenny took in two French games — Saturday’s 2-1 win over Denmark and Wednesday’s surprising 1-0 defeat to Tunisia — as well as the Netherlands’ win over Qatar on Tuesday.

SCOUTING MISSION: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.

Sometimes these things write themselves. Stephen Kenny’s brief but busy scouting mission to Qatar came to an end last night on the western outskirts of Doha in Education City. You’d hope there were plenty of lessons learned.

There has indeed been something of an education for the Ireland manager and the small FAI delegation who accompanied him out here. All told, they managed to squeeze eight games into six days. Call it a cramming session. But three matches carried far greater significance than the others.