LAST NIGHT’S GOALLESS draw with Portugal at the Aviva Stadium has strengthened the case for Stephen Kenny’s contract as Ireland manager to be extended.
After a difficult start to his tenure, the former Dundalk boss now appears to have Ireland moving in the right direction.
Sunday’s fixture away to Luxembourg has the potential to temper the growing sense of positivity around the team, but Kenny’s side will embark on the revenge mission with confidence thanks to the considerable level of improvement that has been displayed since last March’s shock defeat to the same opposition in Dublin.
The current state of play for the Boys in Green was discussed on the latest episode of The Football Family – a podcast that is available exclusively to The42 members – as Gavin Cooney and David Sneyd shared their views with Paul Dollery.
“Ireland are again solid and hard to beat,” said Gavin. “The case for the likes of Mick McCarthy back in the day would be to reinvigorate the older players and make Ireland tough to beat. Stephen Kenny and his coaching staff have done that – and a whole lot more.
“We’ll always end up talking about the contract situation but [the FAI] would be totally mad not to go and [extend his contract] now.
“The FAI have a lot to be going on with. They’re putting together a new strategic plan for the next four years and they’ve got to address the very alarming situation of the state of our academies, on which there’ll be more pressure in a post-Brexit world.
“Imagine then giving themselves the work of going to find a new manager for, what I can see, no good reason at all. I think they’d be mad to do it.”
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