FOR NEARLY every past Ireland manager, there is a game or precise moment that feels like the end of an era, where something becomes irrevocably broken.
Occasionally, it is the actual end, such as the 4-1 defeat by Denmark in Lansdowne Road that brought Eoin Hand’s ill-fated tenure and Ireland’s 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign to a close.
However, usually, the narrative is not so neatly wrapped up. The moment occurs a few games before the manager’s literal last match, where it at last definitively feels as if the coach’s fate has been sealed.
Jack Charlton managed Ireland for five more fixtures after the infamous 0-0 draw with Liechtenstein, but with four defeats broken up by an expected Latvia win, it was more or less all downhill thereafter.
Mick McCarthy (in his first reign) lasted just three more games (two of which were defeats) after a gallant 2002 World Cup display that had largely been overshadowed by the Saipan debacle.
Steve Staunton’s team never truly recovered from the early 5-2 defeat to Cyprus that set the tone for the most chaotic Irish managerial reign in recent memory.
Giovanni Trapattoni stayed on for 12 more games following the 6-1 defeat by Germany in Dublin, but their only competitive wins during that subsequent period were against Faroe Islands.
Similarly, Martin O’Neill managed Ireland for nine more matches following the demoralising 5-1 World Cup playoff loss against Denmark at the Aviva, with their sole victory during that run coming in a friendly against USA.
While Ireland’s 2-0 loss to Greece last night was not as poor as any of the aforementioned performances, you could equally point out that Stephen Kenny has not hit the same heights as some of the managers mentioned above.
Instead, there is a kind of inescapable monotony — the lows under Kenny have not been so drastic nor have the highs been especially heady.
It was more humdrum and less dramatic than the usual, stereotypical, climactic capitulation — on Friday, Ireland were simply beaten by a slightly better team, as you could probably conclude from most of the other 15 defeats Kenny has presided over.
In previous eras, there was often an abiding sense that Ireland could, should and would be doing better under a different manager, ideally someone with a more constructive approach, but now that the Kenny evolution appears to be on its last legs, the widespread apathy and pessimism feels starker than before. A nation’s great expectations have been cruelly dashed.
Ireland were not as ragged or as disorganised as they became at their worst under Messrs Trapattoni, O’Neill and Staunton.
But there was at times a sense of hopelessness and lifelessness permeating the Aviva last night that felt deeply reminiscent of the darkest days of previous regimes.
The display was among the worst by Ireland since Kenny took charge.
Last month, against the Netherlands, a superior team to Greece, Ireland were well in the game at least up until Wout Weghorst scored the winner just before the hour mark.
Last night, a sense of optimism was palpable only in the opening minutes amid an early flurry of Irish chances, while it had been almost entirely eroded by half-time when the visitors found themselves two goals to the good thanks to some clinical counter-attacking and sub-par Irish defending.
It felt like the story of Kenny’s reign writ large. The Boys in Green have perpetually failed at what Trapattoni used to refer to as “the little details”.
While the hosts weren’t awful in general play — they had 58% possession and as many shots on target (5) as Greece — isolated mistakes during key moments at both ends of the field proved costly.
So while the Dubliner will almost definitely be in charge for three more games (Gibraltar and Netherlands away as well as the home November friendly with New Zealand) — as the Football Association of Ireland have indicated – it’s hard to see a way back for the embattled manager from this point on.
There is an inescapable sense of doom, with last night’s result officially ending the Boys in Green’s hopes of automatic progression.
Defeats to sides of the calibre of France and Netherlands would be forgivable for most Irish managers, but less so to have been outplayed twice by the group’s fourth seeds.
Kenny always deserved a shot at the Ireland job on the back of his superb achievements at Dundalk and elsewhere.
His bravery in introducing an adventurous style of play for the Irish national team and handing debuts to so many young players should be commended.
But last night felt like the tipping point, where even the manager’s most ardent admirers will find it difficult to argue with the decision the FAI are expected to reach in November.
It is the end metaphorically if not literally.
