Abbotstown was sunny on Friday but a tempest swirled around FAI headquarters. Over the green mound beside the car park, QPR coach John Eustace laid cones for the last session before a Nations League encounter with Scotland that is not supposed to matter.
This was meant to be the progressive period between World Cup and European Championship qualification campaigns. Last week’s trip to Yerevan was supposed to quietly yield the first Irish win in Uefa’s made-up competition to keep international squads purring. And to keep the cash flowing.
The actual result, Armenia 1 Ireland 0, definitely happened, there were witnesses, but listening to manager Stephen Kenny one would swear it was the most undeserving scoreline in the history of Irish sport. It was nothing of the sort but Kenny has adopted a bullish, stubborn stance, riddled with empty rhetoric, that could not be silenced by another 1-0 loss to Ukraine reserves at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night.
Scotland also lost to Ukraine recently, a defeat that ripped the heart out of Steve Clarke’s ambition of sending the Tartan Army to the big show for the first time since 1998. They licked their wounds sufficiently to account for Armenia, winning 2-0 at Hampden Park.
It’s not quite Mick McCarthy appearing on Sky Sports co-comms after being usurped as Ireland manager by Kenny, but Martin O’Neill reappeared via a spate of interviews in the Scottish press.
“Where are Ireland at just now? That’s a really good question,” said O’Neill. “The Armenia game was a big, big setback. Sometimes you get a couple of [positive] results in matches against sides who are not in the top 80 — teams like Andorra and Lithuania. You can start to get a false impression of where you are.
“I suppose a couple of years into Stephen’s reign, you’d have to ask [where they’re at].”
More voices from international football’s great beyond will inevitably rear their heads in the coming days, weeks, months to argue how much longer Kenny can survive on such meagre returns.
Informed that two wins from 17 competitive matches in charge is a “shocking record”, Kenny is being asked awkward questions again.
“Yeah I do absolutely, I do yeah,” Kenny responded to whether he was the man for this job. “Without a shadow of a doubt. I’ve just signed a new contract and I’m committed here until after the Euros. We’ve just lost two very, very narrow games that we are disappointed to lose. We are getting ready for the game tomorrow, and we’re just fully focused on the game tomorrow.”
The game will offer the purgatory of a draw, the latest loss in death by a thousand low blocks or victory to slow the inevitable. Meanwhile, Kenny will rethink tactics but the style is cemented now. Three centre halves or bust.
“There is a difference between tactics and style of play,” he said. “The style of play won’t change, we are committed to that regardless. Tactically we always have to adapt. That is a different question.”
The style council deserves a follow-up. Is there a moment, if results continue to spiral downward, that the 3-4-2-1 approach could be tweaked to deny opponents the certainty of knowing that pressing high or dropping deep is enough to suffocate Ireland? Because both methods proved effective routes to 1-0 wins since Anthony Barry parted ways with the current management to coach Belgium.
Two defeats in 10 games is another way of presenting that stat. Friday’s press conference lacked the drama of Callum Robinson’s refusal to be vaccinated or Kenny’s wildly contrasting demeanour after Luxembourg games in 2021, but it was revealing in other ways.
When asked what, as manager, can be done to change the run of poor results, he highlighted injured players Séamus Coleman, John Egan and Matt Doherty. He kept saying that the team needs to be freshened up for Scotland and before facing a fully loaded Ukraine in Lodz, Poland next Tuesday. When asked what work is being done to correct the lack of goals, he expressed the need for privacy in such matters. When asked if the lack of goals was a concern he referred to another time when goals were scored.
Really, there is little to be said with any conviction or believability until the worm turns. At this point, the players really need to do the talking for Stephen Kenny.
