‘DRAWING WITH A mountain top’ was the pithy summary of Ireland’s nadir under Jack Charlton, a 0-0 draw with Lichtenstein in 1995 that signalled that the dreamy days were over.
A year yesterday, ‘losing to a Grand Duchy’ was the equivalent for Stephen Kenny, but defeat at home to Luxembourg has proven not to have augured the end. Instead Ireland have turned it around, and have lost just one of the 11 games they’ve played since, scoring 20 goals and conceding eight of them.
Kenny’s contract has been renewed, the turnstiles are clicking, the momentum is rolling and the vibes are undeniably good.
Ireland’s latest signs of progress were evident in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Belgium: the world’s number one side left their A-listers at home, but theirs was nonetheless a quality team stacked with Premier League and top-level European experience. Ireland twice battled back to draw the game, and while the Belgium’s second goal was a shocking goal to concede from an Irish point of view, the game was filled with evidence of Ireland’s progress.
Jason Knight started on Saturday, as he did on that wretched night against Luxembourg. He has experienced them both: where the stands heaved at the weekend, they were eerily empty a year ago. Where the sun shone against Belgium, the rain teemed against Luxembourg.
“Look, you always have tough times in your career”, says Knight. “That was a tough time for the country and for the squad but the progression I think we have seen throughout the last year, 18 months has been really good and there is still more to come.
“I think there is great character in this squad, from dealing with setbacks, we have gone through tough times as a squad. And I think to come through those times we built a big, big character in the squad. Obviously we went a goal down, after starting the game well – really well – and that can be a sucker punch but we got through it.
“They had a bit of possession after that but our reaction to the second go, we did really well and could have got an equaliser straight away.”
Ireland were painfully lethargic a year ago, but they brimmed with vim and energy against Belgium, pressing them throughout, even as Belgium hogged the ball after their first goal. (They had 86% possession at one point.)
“That’s something the manager brought in when he first came in”, says Knight. “It takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of desire but when you do it right and it comes off it looks really well.
“Obviously at times tonight, Belgium are a good team, they can get out of it, but for the majority we pressed really well and got really good chances out of it.”
Kenny, meanwhile, is targeting victory in Ireland’s Uefa Nations League group later this year. Topping the group would bring with it promotion to the top-tier League A, and the guarantee of a play-off for Euro 2024. Plus, seeding for the Euros’ qualifier draw will be determined by the Nations League groups, so every results matters.
Victory against Lithuania in a friendly game tomorrow night would keep the momentum rolling ahead of kick-off in June.
“It’s better to have positive results than negative but it’s good to have good performances like that, for sure”, says Kenny. “It reinforces the message that we’re giving and people see you’re getting success from that. It reinforces belief and that can be powerful when you do that, when you play against top-class international players.
“We have a lot to do. We don’t know the situation with Ukraine, they got to the quarter-finals of the Euros, they did brilliantly before that. It’s a tragic situation, Scotland have been terrific. Armenia, we’re learning about Armenia.
“It’s a tough group with Scotland and Ukraine, so we know it’s a tough group but we’re looking to improve all of the time, we’re getting better and we’re building a squad and we want to try to do ourselves justice in that.”
This week on the Front Row – The42’s new rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness – panellist Eimear Considine makes a welcome return… and she’s brought her Ireland roommate, Hannah O’Connor, along too. They chat about broken noses, tanning routines, initiation songs and balancing the Women’s Six Nations with teaching, plus how one fan named her child after Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons! Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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