Kenny: 'We are just going to have to get some exceptional results'

Stephen Kenny's is under pressure and the game against Gibraltar is a must win. 

Manager Stephen Kenny and Evan Ferguson during a Republic of Ireland training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Once upon a time, three years ago, Stephen Kenny didn’t deem Gibraltar worthy of inclusion in comparative analysis.

Full of the joys of life when the succession plan was accelerated, the new Ireland boss was eager to identify the creative area to sprinkle his stardust.

“Our staff and I have analysed the eight Euro qualifiers from last year,” he began in July 2020, prophesising about an ‘amazing’ year ahead for the Ireland team.

“Defence was our strongest point but the problem was creating and scoring goals; only scoring four outside of the wins over Gibraltar. Two of those came from defenders.” 

Easier said than done.

Kenny, too, presided over eight games that year. His team scored once – and, yes, that solitary goal came off a defender’s head.

Now the nation he blatantly chose to disregard without a minute of senior international experience behind him stands in the way of his inevitable exit from the Ireland job being a humiliating one.

This is a no-win game for Kenny. A victory against a group of part-timers won’t rectify his Greek tragedy of Friday night while slipping up invites sloshes of ink over the blots already staining his copybook.

Gibraltar, for the record, have fallen from 194 to 201 in FIFA’s ranking since Ireland last played them during that 2019 blitz under Mick McCarthy.

One of their predicted starters, Neils Hartman, plays his club football with Loughborough Students, currently members of the United Counties Premier Division North, the ninth tier of English football.

They had their rattle at France on Friday, restricting the concessions to three. Anticipating the same group to sustain fitness levels 72 hours later is unrealistic.

On the subject of rattling, the pressure began to show on the manager’s face during yesterday’s press conference, despite earlier dismissing outside criticism as “irrelevant”.

Against claiming that the Greek side that completely outwitted, outplayed and outmuscled his team in Friday’s game as more experienced, he insisted his charges carried more potential.

A query later from a journalist, clearly exasperated at the record of four wins from 23 competitive games, about a timeline for yields from this groundwork, was met with accusations of disrespect.

The tone had changed from his post-match Athens appraisal of ‘mountain to climb’ to optimism of retrieving the group.

“Yes,” he asserted when asked if the top-two finish was possible from a static start of zero points from six.

“It'd have been a lot easier if we had won on Friday. We made life difficult for ourselves and are just going to have to get some exceptional results.” 

Clearly, the rose-tinted glasses we thought had been retired were reached for following the delegation’s return to Castleknock Hotel over the weekend.

France will breeze to top spot, he foresees, with the second ticket to Germany a three-way battle between Greece, Ireland and a Netherlands side nursing three defeats from their last four.

Of course, we’ve been here before – a similar rallying cry issued in the aftermath of an identical return from the opening pair of World Cup qualifiers in 2021.

This campaign he pinpointed as the real schedule to judge him on isn’t dead, in his mind at least.

Matt Doherty and James McClean also embraced the fighting talk – nothing less would be expected from players – but all that matters for Kenny’s future are the views of his employers.

“Yeah, I definitely do,” the manager replied, upon being asked if he expects to be still in charge by the playoffs next March, Ireland’s last resort to seal a Germany return 35 years on from Euro ’88.

“My contract is up till the end of this campaign. Whether it’s renewed will depend on how people feel the campaign went overall but certainly I fully expect to.” 

Those people – specifically the FAI hierarchy – haven’t presented him with that guarantee, Kenny would later clarify.

Aborting mid-campaign isn’t a concern of his, although unconvinced board members ensured a maximum severance figure accompanied his last contract for this campaign were reasons to unfold.

“I haven't sought any assurance – that’s not something that I do,” he noted. “I never said that it (lasting the campaign) was a certainty. I was asked a question and I said it was expected.” 

Only he did say it. And ‘definitely’ to emphasise his sense of comfort.

Words matter, as do actions.