Stephen Kenny returns to management with St Patrick’s Athletic

Former Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has signed a five-year contract with St Patrick’s Athletic.

The length of the deal, which runs until 2029, is unusual for a managerial post, especially in the League of Ireland where four clubs have already published losses for 2023.

St Pat’s lost €376,519 last year but that could be offset by “strategic investment” from American firm Kenosis Capital, which is fronted by NFL stars Joe Flacco and Matt Birk.

According to Kenny, St Pat’s chairman Garrett Kelleher sees the appointment as a partnership, rather than the normal manager-owner relationship.

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“When Garrett came to speak to me, he said he didn’t want me to be an employee but a partner driving the club, I work better in that environment,” he said. “My mother used to come to watch St Pat’s, she’s from Inchicore and lived in Ballyfermot, so there’s a good connection there.”

St Pat’s won the FAI Cup under Jon Daly last November, but their current position of seventh in the Premier Division after 16 matches prompted Kelleher to pursue Kenny.

The FAI parted company with Kenny in November after 40 matches in charge of the senior men’s squad and another 12 overseeing the Ireland under-21s.

“I’ve never been out of work in 25 years, bar a couple of months,” said Kenny. “I am used to coaching most days, it is in my blood.”

In fact, the past six months is the longest Kenny has been unemployed since becoming Longford Town manager in 1998. The 52-year-old’s previous longest absence from the dugout was two months between an unsuccessful 33-game stretch at Shamrock Rovers in 2012 before his career defining six years at Dundalk.

Kenny led Dundalk to four premier division titles between 2014 and 2018, including the league and cup double twice, and into the group stages of the Europa League.

This success led to a bizarre scenario in 2018, conceived by then FAI chief executive John Delaney, when Kenny was named Ireland under-21 manager with an understanding that he would succeed Mick McCarthy as senior boss after the Euro 2020 campaign.

Due to Covid delays, his contract was triggered early, and Kenny replaced McCarthy before the Euros play-off against Slovakia in October 2020, a game that Ireland lost on penalties.

There followed a dire run of results before Ireland’s victory over Andorra gave Kenny his first win at the helm, in his 12th attempt.

Nonetheless, the FAI under Jonathan Hill renewed his contract as reward for blooding so many young players and a fleeting reversal of fortunes – beating Luxembourg and Azerbaijan while drawing at home to Serbia and Portugal – despite the failure to come close to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The 2022 Nations League and Euro 2024 campaigns were both failures and Kenny’s 40 games in charge ended last year after 11 victories and 18 defeats.

[ Stephen Kenny: ‘I’ve made brave decisions in the best interests of Irish football, okay?’ ]

Following some interest from lower league clubs in England, and more recently Bohemians and Dundalk, he agreed a long-term deal with Kelleher.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, I’m looking forward to getting started, it’s a new chapter in my life and a new chapter for the club, and I’ll be giving it everything,” said Kenny, who managed the St Pat’s under-21s at the start of his career.

“Garrett Kelleher has shared his vision for the club with me for a long time, he has plans for the stadium, to expand the club into America, European progression and a lot of exciting plans really.

“The reason I signed a longer contract is to build the club over a period of time and I’m looking forward to driving it forward.”

Kenny takes over in advance of Derry City’s visit to Richmond Park on Friday night before Shelbourne come to Inchicore on Monday. Both rival managers Ruaidhri Higgins and Damien Duff briefly worked in his Irish backroom.

He can barely draw breath before another Dublin derby against Bohs at Dalymount Park on May 24th.

“We are at the wrong end of the table, and we have some work to do,” he added before taking his first training session in the familiar confines of Abbotstown on Thursday. “At the moment we are the fourth team in Dublin.”

Kenny has inherited a decent squad from Daly, led by 24-year-old defender Joe Redmond, with Chris Forrester arguably the most creative midfielder in the league. Up front 16-year-old Mason Melia is living up to the hype while Ruairí Keating’s arrival from Cork City should, in theory, guarantee goals.

All St Pat’s now need is for Kenny to do what he used to do best: win matches in the League of Ireland.