John Fallon: Disrespectful treatment of Long got Kenny reign off on wrong foot
DISRESPECTFUL: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny before the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship Qualifier match between Republic of Ireland and France at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Actions speak louder than any words and whether he meant it or not Stephen Kenny was trying to make a statement of intent by humiliating Shane Long during their first international together.
It may have been two-and-a-half years ago but the awkwardness hadn't become outdated when the aggrieved player last week chose to air his disgust.
Kenny's problem here was the absence of words, presuming Long's account of September 2020 is accurate.
Criticising the Tipp man for somehow feeling entitled to the No 9 shirt he relinquished is entirely missing the point.
His embarrassment is couched in the manner of the discovery.
A changeover had already been in train during the previous year when David McGoldrick was Mick McCarthy's striker of choice over the unused Long but with when the incumbent was unavailable for the start of the new era, who was the suitable replacement?
Kenny felt best to hand that honour to an uncapped striker but delegating the responsibility of anointing Adam Idah to the jilted rival smacked of major misjudgment.
"I gave a speech and I held up the shirt, and on the back it was number 9," Long recalled about the presentation ceremony. "I remember handing that jersey over and I just wanted to storm out of that room. And if it was at club level I would have left, that would have been me gone (but) I didn't want to take away from Adam. "
The incoming boss had reasons for his decision, however debatable they were.
Idah was the only ever-present in Kenny's 12-match Under-21 reign of the previous year. Moreover, the Corkman was his best goal-getter, bookending the blitz with strikes against Luxembourg and Sweden either side of a brace in the Toulon tournament opener, the 4-1 victory over Guus Hiddink's China.
His assistant Keith Andrews had observed first-hand Idah's potency while on Colin O'Brien's backroom staff during the Under-17s journey to the Euro quarter-finals of 2017.
Together they believed Idah was worthy of the mantle; that this public vote of confidence would elevate the rookie's goalscoring firepower to the senior Stage.
That was reflected in his status as the apex of their attack; the teenager's ability to drop deep and link the play considered integral to the modernised Ireland team promised by the manager.
Bar a Covid-19 interrupted October window – sourced from the infamous false positive result of Aaron Connolly on the flight to Slovakia – Idah was an automatic starter in Team Kenny and an emblem of the influx he brought with him into the full ranks.
For various reasons, injury the dominant one over the past 18 months, Idah has yet to break his duck at that level.
IT had been four years since Long bagged the last of his 17 international goals by the time he first came under Kenny's wing.
Yet at that point he was 33 – the same age James McClean is now – and a striker with a Premier League club.
More pertinently, his contribution to Ireland, encrusted by that momentous goal to Beat the World Champions Germany, warranted the respect of prior notice.
There's only two possible reasons for Kenny's blunder – either he wasn't aware of the sensitivity or was but didn't deem a quiet word in private deserving of the time.
Both options are, in the face of it, indefensible. Few could argue with the opinion of evergreen managerial survivor Neil Warnock that 90 percent of management is MAN Management. In that regard, this was an early faux pas.
Then again, it wasn't Kenny's first communication misstep with an Ireland striker.
Robbie Keane, sitting six places above Long at the summit of all-time Irish goalscorer charts, didn't so much as receive a phone call informing him of being unrequired as the succession plan mobilised prematurely.
Before the Kenny loyalists decry that matter as not his problem, it didn't prevent the manager calling other staff members to cut them adrift.
The treatment of Robbie Brady last week – bizarrely getting dropped, drafted in at short notice and then frozen out of the matchday 23 – also defied logic. By Kenny in the past talking up Brady's positional flexibility and set-piece mastery, it made a mockery of his preference for Jamie McGrath, someone who couldn't break into a third division side last season and is back in Scotland immersed in a relegation battle.
Deviations from fundamental procedures breed suspicion and such tales from behind the scenes that usually filter out among seasoned professionals could explain the general jaundiced view of pundits towards Kenny's methods.
Brian Kerr has been cast as the epitome of anti-Kenny sentiment – detractors conveniently forgetting his refusal to indulge defeat to France was in the context of the broader record – but laughable accusations of bitterness cannot be levelled at other critics.
Molder player Jonathan Walters didn't allow his work with the FAI as Under-19 coach to compromise his principles, for he was swift in questioning the midstream downgrading of the World Cup qualifiers to a campaign of experimentation for this tilt at reaching Germany next year. Likewise Damien Delaney.
Richard Dunne doesn't have to apologise for, as Kenny made a point of stating, 'being close to Robbie', nor having limited coaching expertise to call out deficiencies.
Perhaps the defensive favourite summarised it best when asked on Virgin Media about Ireland's position on the arc over the term that began three years ago this week.
"Probably close to where they started," he deadpanned.
Words, especially the cutting ones, carry substance.
A return to Stade de France, the scene of the 2009 Thierry Henry thievery and first Euro finals game for 28 years against Sweden, is off the table as the Parisian cauldron is unavailable.
France’s hosting of the rugby World Cup commences with the clash against the All Blacks 24 hours after Ireland do battle with Les Bleus football team.
The search for an alternative venue was last week launched by the French federation, their executive seeking expressions of interest nationwide by April 12 based on criteria of minimum 25,000 capacity and pitch dimensions of 105m x 68m.
Two stadia appear to be emerged as contenders, one apiece north and south of Paris.
Were the FFF to avoid any clashes with rugby venues, the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens might be considered.
Given the likely ticket demand for the game, both travelling and locals disposed to the novelty of Kylian Mbappé’s trip away from the metropolis, it’s capacity of 38,223 could count against it.
Equally worthy of consideration is the home of Olympique Lyonnais’, where the nations last met on French soil. The 59,186-seater stadium is part of the rugby showpiece, yet doesn’t stage its first game until September 24 when Australia face Wales.
A full fortnight to makeover the venue is sufficient turnaround to accommodate Ireland’s fourth match of the campaign, three days before they welcome Netherlands to Dublin.
Saturday's friendly against USA will present a chance for Ireland international Ciara Grant to reunite with some of her Donegal pals.
The fixture against the world champions in Texas coincides with the Ladies GAA All-Star tour, among which are the two McLaughlins, lifelong friends Geraldine and Niamh.
Grant, these days a full-time footballer in Scotland for Hearts, grew up together and were even in the same Ireland squad under Sue Ronan almost a decade ago.
Geraldine has gone on to thrive on the GAA scene and fellow accomplished soloist Grant could have stayed on the intercounty scene too for the native county only for football to lure her back.
The decision two years ago of the qualified doctor to resume her career at 27 has paid off as she's progressed from Sion Swifts to Shelbourne and onto the Scottish top-flight early last year, initially at Rangers.
"We're going to have 30 of the players there on Saturday and it a nice full circle to see a good Donegal contingent in the city," explained Grant, who incidentally won the first of her 16 caps away to USA in 2012.
john.fallon@examiner.ie
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