STEPHEN KENNY SAID his Irish team took motivation from comments made by Luxembourg manager Luc Holtz claiming Ireland have reverted to a “British style” of play which they have played for “100 years.”
Holtz said Ireland have had more success in recent months by playing more long balls, and while Kenny curtly rejected them ahead of the game, he cut loose on his opinion after the 3-0 victory.
“He is a good football coach, but psychology, he maybe needs to have a look at that side of things”, said Kenny. “His sports psychology wasn’t of the highest order. We were disappointed he denigrated all the great players who played for Ireland.
“Denis Irwin was in with us a couple of weeks ago. Roy Keane, John Giles, Liam Brady, Mick McCarthy, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff. It is wrong to say they just fight for second balls and played caveman football for a hundred years. It’s wrong to suggest that, we thought he denigrated a lot of players and that was unacceptable.
“The players themselves know, they hear it themselves. We did speak about it. It is unnecessary, but it’s part of life. We have moved on already.”
Holtz is among the grumpier international managers: during his post-match press conference he hit out at tonight’s referee – “the coach is very angry at the referee who decided the match tonight” was the words from the translator – said Portugal missing out on top spot in the group was “justice” for playing a weakened team in Dublin and then rounded on the Irish coaching staff, accusing them of unsportsmanlike behaviour, of “playing the big guys” when winning – but not losing – to Luxembourg.
“I’m very disappointed about the behaviour of the staff of Ireland. This evening, they came and played the big guys because they won. In Ireland where we won, they immediately disappeared to the dressing rooms.
“We didn’t go to them and make them ridiculous, but they tried to do that this evening after the match. That’s not very fair play and very disappointing.
“We are not used to that from British teams.”
He then refused to answer follow up questions to explain precisely what annoyed him, and didn’t engage when the Irish press pack touched on a couple of basic facts about Ireland’s politics, geography, history and sovereignty.
Kenny was nonplussed by this criticism, saying he hadn’t spoken to him after the game.
Now to return to the more routine topic of the game itself.
“We didn’t start the first few minutes too well. But we created a lot of opportunities in the game and I was very pleased with the quality of our defending, apart from one occasion when we presented a chance to Luxembourg.
“The importance of a clean sheet cannot be underestimated.
“We deserved the victory overall.”
The momentum is gathering behind a contract extension for the manager: the FAI CEO Jonathan Hill tweeted his approval of the night while the Irish supporters sang Kenny’s name throughout the game.
Asked whether he is confident of remaining in charge for the Euro 2024 campaign, he replied, “I was always confident, regardless. The supporters have been magnificent and they are singing my name, but I am happier if they are singing about the players.
“The game is about players and the quality of the players. They deserve credit. The players have been very consistent over the last few months, since we lost to Luxembourg really.
“We have put in a lot of good performances and we are delighted to win. We didn’t want to finish fourth and we aren’t celebrating finishing third by any means. People understand there has been a radical overhaul of the squad that has been necessary for us to go forward and be brilliant.”