AND SO, AFTER months of ceaseless debate in which every game became a referendum on his position, Stephen Kenny has signed a new contract as manager of the Republic of Ireland.
He and his backroom team have been tied down – bar Anthony Barry, who has left for Belgium – until Ireland’s interest in Euro 2024 ends, be that in qualifying or in the actual tournament in Germany. The search is ongoing for Barry’s replacement, with someone potentially in place for the friendly with Belgium on 26 March.
Whenever Kenny was asked about his contract last year (and that was virtually every time he gave a press conference once World Cup qualification was dead in the water) he replied that he wasn’t “fixated” by it, and he repeated that manta when speaking to journalists at Abbottstown yesterday.
“It’s not something I was focusing on, that I had to get results to get a new deal”, said Kenny. “I was very determined to stay as manager of Ireland as it’s a huge privilege. It’s the highest honour you can have. It’s not something you want to let go easily.”
Ireland’s record in 2020 under Kenny was abysmal: eight games, no wins, one goal scored. The empty stadia and abnormal level of Covid disruption offered considerable mitigation, issues which were far less prevalent in 2021, when results and performances were far better. Ireland lost their opening two games – away to Serbia and, wretchedly, at home to Luxembourg – but improved from there, losing only away to Portugal across their final 10 games.
“I do think that we have a different style now and our own support relate to it in a big way, in a massive way”, said Kenny.
A key moment in the transformation came in the 3-0 friendly defeat to England in November 2020.
“When we were in England last year in Wembley, we didn’t have our strongest team out but in the second half they had 3-4-2-1 against us and they had Reece James and Saka as the wing backs, with Sancho and Grealish both flying as their two tens.
“We were a bit unbalanced but they forced us into a low lock in our 4-3-2-1. We couldn’t get out of our low block for a while, couldn’t get out of it in the second half, and after that I said: ‘Never ever again will that ever happen. Ever. Never will that happen again, never.’
“We needed to change.”
The change was a shift to a back three, and Kenny ran through some clips illuminating how Ireland played in that system in a video presentation to journalists at Abbottstown yesterday. Earlier Kenny said that he was largely finished with experimentation, though there is still an opportunity for players to force their way into contention.
“There is room for people to find form and get into the team, that’s the nature of it”, said Kenny.
“Take Festy Ebosele, I couldn’t have envisaged that we could be thinking of him as a senior international player in November, I knew him, I followed him through the 17s, 19s, 21s. He probably won’t be in the squad next week, to be honest, he’ll probably be with the U21s, barring injuries, but how good he has been for Derby, he has been absolutely lightning, he’s quicker than Chiedozie [Ogbene].
“He’s rapid, he frightens defenders and I couldn’t have thought in November that he could be in contention in March.”
Some established squad players have also found form since Ireland last gathered in November, with Matt Doherty finally becoming a force in the Tottenham team.
“There was a lot of speculation that he was going back to Wolves, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t thinking that way at all, he was thinking of staying at Spurs and making himself a success. He was going to try and make a success of it, and to be fair, Antonio Conte’s regime does a lot of fitness work and it suits him. He needs it, that kind of regime suits him. He looks very fit. Very, very fit. The confidence of doing well a couple of weeks ago, getting the goal, and he played better again [against Everton in midweek.] So it can be confidence as well.”
With the contract signed, Kenny can now look forward to the year ahead, with this month’s friendlies preceding a Nations League campaign against Ukraine, Scotland, and Armenia. A scheduled double header with Ukraine in June now looks doubtful, with their World Cup play-off with Scotland postponed from this month, and now likely to take place in June. CEO Jonathan Hill says the FAI are in dialogue with Uefa and Fifa, and they have no clarity yet on how it will impact Ireland, though says Ireland will be “as flexible and supportive as we can be.”
“In the previous Nations League we were very experimental in terms of using it to blood players and we used it with that in mind, to bring players on”, said Kenny. “The ultimate ambition in every Nations League game, now that we’ve settled the squad, is to push on and win every game.
“We can get into the A League if we win the group. Next year we have the possibility of playing Germany, England, France and Spain and we must be looking to do that. It would be amazing.”
Winning the group would also bring the benefit of a play-off for Euro 2024, should the qualifying group go awry. Qualification for that tournament is Kenny’s ultimate ambition, and how ironic that this man who has done so much to move Irish football forward is targeting a return to the scene where it all began in 1988.
“To go back to where Ireland started in their first ever European Championships, if it’s back to Stuttgart or wherever it is, that’s the big dream.”
