Stephen Kenny continues to see it his way as walls close in on Ireland tenure

UNDER PRESSURE: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny reacts during the UEFA EURO 2024 Championship qualifying group B match between Republic of Ireland and Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

As is often the case, Stephen Kenny’s view of his latest defeat was open to scrutiny but what can’t be debated is the icy ground he’s treading as the last of the summer rays give way to Autumnal chills.

Kenny doesn’t need glasses to adopt a rose-tinted hue. To his mind, Netherlands shaded a tight contest 2-1 on Sunday night despite the Dutch controlling the second half and seeing out their third win of Euro ’24 qualifying Group B with ease.

Not for the first time in his three-year tenure, the Ireland manager was outsmarted in the tactical battle, slow in reacting to Ronald Koeman’s interval double-substitution.

Within 10 minutes, one of the newcomers hooked home what proved to be the winner, adding to Cody Gapko’s 19th minute penalty that cancelled out Adam Idah’s opener for Ireland.

Defeat burns another tilt at glory for Kenny, his fifth campaign between the Euro ’21 playoff, World Cup qualifiers, these Euro qualifiers and two series of Nations League. Surviving to the end of the latest failed version is a mission entirely out of his control.

“We relentlessly pressed and should have capitalised on a couple of opportunities to go two up,” said Kenny, lamenting the early blitz without confessing how the Dutch finished the first half the stronger.

“I couldn’t believe we conceded the equaliser; such a frustrating goal.” 

Admitting Shane Duffy’s late siege in search of an equaliser was an act of personal choice, the manager still felt Ireland were in the game ‘til the final moments.

He said: “We kept going to the end, had a lot of crosses, they defended their box well. We had a lot of individuals running at them but I would have liked to create more than we did in that end period.”

“It wasn’t an instruction for Shane to switch from defence to attack,” he said.

“We committed man to man against Holland and you won’t see anyone trying to play Holland as aggressively as that.

Ronald Koeman was the manager being branded Special K at the press conference. Rocked by an early concession, the Dutch progressed though the gears without going full throttle.

“Our start was really poor,” said the Dutch boss.

“We expected high pressing from the Irish team, but we lost many balls in our possession and we did not have control in the game.

“After 20, 25 minutes, it calmed down and the decision at half-time to change the system to play four at the back was good decision.

“After half-time, we controlled the game.

“Only in the last 10 minutes, maybe they brought the same pressing, but they did not create any chance to score and we defended well in the last part of the game.

“Finally I think it's a fair result.” 

Regardless of where the truth rests, Koeman is the only manager of the duo in a position to be eased of the pressure they faced in June following slack results.

Kenny’s slump leaves him vulnerable to the axe for reduced compensation. That he’s talking about the final three qualifiers, against Greece and Gibraltar next month, followed by the concluder in Amsterdam on November 18, may well be in keeping with the manager’s delusions.

“Yeah I mean I’m contracted until the end of the campaign,” said the Ireland boss when asked if he was expected to avoid being sacked during the interim. “That’s my contract. So absolutely.

“But we don’t know if there is a playoff next March. So we don’t know if that is the case. We’re unsure if that is the case. So I can’t really make statements about the play-off because we don’t know whether we are in it or not.

“From my point of view, I’m not thinking about that now. I’m just disappointed we can’t finish in the top two. It’s gut-wrenching.”