STEPHEN KENNY TEMPERED his praise of Ireland’s performance in tonight’s 3-2 friendly win over Latvia by admitting he isn’t “euphoric” at the fact Ireland squandered a two-goal lead.
Ireland raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Callum O’Dowda and Evan Ferguson, but inexplicably went in at half-time level at 2-2 having conceded another two goals from outside the box. Chiedozie Ogbene’s winning goal moments after he came off the bench sealed another rollercoaster win.
“There were many aspects that I was pleased with in the game”, said Kenny post-game, “and I counteract that by saying that it wasn’t the perfect performance, of course. I felt our passing was quote good in the first-half and we had penetration in all our play.
“Callum O’Dowd gave us that on the left wing and the link play between Matt Doherty and Will Smallbone on the right gave them a lot of problems. So we looked very good for periods and then we went in two-all at half-time.
“That was difficult to accept because we had chances to go three up and we didn’t take them. We have to accept some criticism for that as well. Maybe we got very confident and we were trying a lot of different things in possession.
“We got caught with a pass inside and got punished with an unbelievable goal. The second goal was deflected but I didn’t think it was a reflection of play at half-time but glad to win the game, and a lot of good things came from it.”
Kenny went on to stress there are no “formalities” in international football.
“Latvia are lowly ranked but in last year they have done well, there are no formalities. In the second-half we weren’t all that cohesive and could have been better at times. The introduction of the substitutes alternated our shape somewhat and gave us another dimension. [Mikey] Johnston and [Chiedozie] Ogbene provided speed in wide areas and that caused them a lot of problems. We got the winner and had some other chances. Overall I’m pleased with the night’s work. Was it perfect? No. Was it realistic to expect it to be perfect with a lot of the players needing minutes? France is a different game and one that we have to get ready for on Monday and that’s a good start to the week, to get the win, score three goals. We’re not euphoric or ecstatic but it’s a good start to the week.”
Smallbone won the man of the match award, and Kenny admitted that the Stoke midfielder will give him food for thought when he picks his team to play France in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Monday night.
“Will, having watched a lot of Stoke recently, I’m just so impressed with how he has kicked on. He was a good player earlier in the season in some games, quiet in other games at other times and good moments but not dominant. He has been very good for Stoke. He has added other aspects to his game so he has given us something to think about.”