Kenny, as expected, 'not considering' resignation

TWO YEARS ON: Manager Stephen Kenny during a Republic of Ireland training session at Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Two years on from sitting in the same chair at the Estádio Algarve talking up a bright future for Ireland under his stewardship, there was an air of resignation from Stephen Kenny on his return to a hotter seat.

Not that the manager is entertaining the possibility of resignation.

He’s never done so previously in his 25 years of management, only for a better job elsewhere, and he won’t be budging until the FAI ushers him out the door.

Thankfully gone is the clinging to hope on a drastic upturn from window to window, openly imagining different scenarios that will unfold to somehow smooth a route to qualification.

Decrying the difficulty of facing France and Netherlands is irrelevant when defeats to Greece, home and away, smother a top-two table finish regardless. There was reason for the Greeks to be fourth seeds when the draw was made a year ago.

His sixth and likely final win in 28 competitive matches will be registered today in Faro against a Gibraltar side whose record since joining UEFA in 2013 is played 43 qualifiers and lost 43 qualifiers.

Of their constant defeats, keeping Ireland scoreless in June was one of the few consolations. Kenny attempted to contextualise that embarrassment by noting the same fate had befallen the Dutch but it was just the latest of his inaccurate gaffes.

A repeat situation on their neutral turf of Faro will accelerate the exit. 

The failure of the FAI to remove Kenny after qualification was effectively mothballed in June, even for a caretaker boss such as John O’Shea until top target Lee Carsley is available from the English FA, has perpetuated this charade.

All the beleaguered boss could point to ahead in the distance were the playoffs in March.

Much like his employment, that possibility is out of his hands and will require a sequence of improbable results in other groups to lift Ireland from the two percent chance currently set by the stats men in projections.

“I'm not considering resigning,” he asserted when asked if another humiliation against the nation ranked 198 in the world would quicken his departure.

“My contact is to the end of the campaign – which includes the playoffs or European Championships – and I will finish it.

“We want to finish the campaign strongly and we are very determined to do that.

“After that it’s completely out of my control. I have no control over the rest.” 

 He’s got this stroll to navigate before concluding against Netherlands in Amsterdam on November 18. A friendly against New Zealand four days later completes the year and likely Kenny’s three-and-a-half years in the job, barring that unlikely playoff reprieve.

He’ll grasp that long shot until all avenues are closed, seemingly immune to the criticism heaped on him.

Kenny didn’t feel the need to respond to withering putdowns by Didier Hamamn despite the German’s consistent criticism on RTÉ.

The World Cup finalist has been consistent in debunking the grandiose notions of Kenny when his ill-founded optimism has eventually left him facedown in dirt.

But for the FAI’s perilous finances, he’d have been paid off and told to seek another challenge but this phony truce of destruction will prolong until November when the anticlimax ceases.

Only next summer when 24 nations, some bang average, partake in the Euros will the damage of Kenny’s incompetence be optimally realised.

This slow death, drawing out the twilight of his dream, isn’t fun for anybody. Today’s venue will be 90 percent empty, epitomising the mood music around his long goodbye.

“Is it fun? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but certainly we have worked extremely hard behind the scenes,” he said, when queried on the enjoyment levels dissipating.

“We have put in an incredible high performance environment behind the scenes now.

“When the players come and speak positively, it's not personality or loyalty to me, it's because they know it's an exceptional high performance environment.

“What we have fallen down on, and it's on me as a coach, is we have let goals in in key times of matches when we're right in the game, or else having long spells and the first chance we concede, we get punished.

“Other teams have just been more ruthless than us in our group. We could have finished third in the group but Greece are a good team and ruthless on Friday.

“That’s disappointing but you can't let that infiltrate the squad because we've such a quick turnaround for this game.” 

 It’s all academic talk when the stakes are so low. Had Ireland held onto John Egan’s lead against Portugal, instead of being breached by two late goals, maybe his tenure would have recovered from the low of losing to Luxembourg at home.

“You can’t dwell on things but have I reflected on it? Of course,” he mused, lamenting that third game of the World Cup campaign.

“We were one-nil ahead after 89 minutes and the game should be finished out.

“Cristiano Ronaldo had other ideas and the world record was on the line that night so he was hugely motivated to break that.

“VAR intervened for an absolute cast iron penalty to go 2-0 up in the second half. It was a nailed-on penalty but that’s the way it goes. The ‘What ifs?’ but no point in complaining. You move on and that’s it.” And so he will be, albeit later than warranted.