1. One of the worst results in Ireland’s footballing history, but here’s why the Stephen Kenny project still deserves time
IT WAS IRELAND’S captain Seamus Coleman who gave one of the most damning assessments of the dismal loss to Luxembourg.
“It’s a shocking result, an embarrassing result,” he told RTÉ. “Let’s not hide behind anyone for that. That’s on us as players. We should be embarrassed.
“As players we need to have a good, hard look at ourselves. You need people demanding the ball out there and I don’t think we did that enough. If you’re building up on one side you need people to want it out the other side, and I don’t think we had enough voices.
“Listen, I’ve got to come out here and do an interview but there are no words for that. It’s embarrassing on behalf of everyone at home watching. As players we take that on the chin but it’s nowhere near what we wanted.”
Kenny himself was only slightly less damning in his verdict.
“I take responsibility for the whole thing,” he said. “It’s not good enough. I think the players are a lot better than they showed in that match. Compared to the performance in Serbia it was chalk and cheese.”
There is little doubt that the ignominious 1-0 defeat will now be remembered alongside similar debacles — the 0-0 draw with Liechtenstein, the 3-1 catastrophe in Macedonia and the 5-2 capitulation against Cyprus in particular spring to mind.
And unlike the three aforementioned games, the Luxembourg match was on home turf, albeit without the benefit of a buoyant crowd roaring Ireland on.
So there is no escaping the sense that losing at the Aviva to the team with an estimated population of a little over 600,000 and ranked 98th in the world by Fifa — 56 places below Ireland — is one of the worst results in the country’s history.
The performance and result was so bad that it has led some critics to question Stephen Kenny’s future in the job.
It’s certainly the lowest point in a reign that has so far yet to produce any real highs.
Ireland have failed to win all 10 of the matches Kenny has presided over, losing six (or seven, depending on whether you count the Slovakia game as a draw or defeat).
By the time the Irish team play their next competitive qualifier away to Portugal on 1 September, more than two years will have passed since their last competitive victory — an unremarkable 2-0 defeat of Gibraltar in June 2019.
It’s hard to remember another time in recent memory where the outlook, at least purely from a results perspective, has been so grim.
And yet, in spite of all this woe, it would be foolish to dispense with Kenny’s services at this stage.
Context is required in assessing the team’s awful run of form. They have been badly hit by injuries and Covid-related absences in recent months. Moreover, there have been some encouraging performances, especially away from home against Slovakia and Serbia.
But perhaps more importantly, having spent years of relying on the same narrow group of players, Kenny is the first Irish manager in a long while who has shown a willingness to trust in youth: last night’s starting XI included Gavin Bazunu (19), Dara O’Shea (22) and Jason Knight (20). Jayson Molumby (21) and Troy Parrott (19) were both introduced off the bench, while Aaron Connolly (21), Caoimhin Kelleher (22) and Adam Idah (20) probably would have featured were it not for injury.
Previous stalwarts of the team, such as Jeff Hendrick, Shane Duffy, James McClean and Robbie Brady have been boldly consigned to the substitutes’ bench. Glenn Whelan, a key member of the side under previous boss Mick McCarthy, is no longer even deemed worthy of a squad place.
So it’s clear that Ireland are a team in transition. Kenny wants players who fit his style and those that don’t tend to be relegated to peripheral roles at best.
On a related note, the manager’s programme notes ahead of the game last night were an interesting read.
“I thought, at times, we played brilliantly in Belgrade on Wednesday,” he wrote. “The standard of the players’ technical ability was very evident and couldn’t be questioned. We played some terrific football against a top class international team away from home. We came out with a narrow 3-2 defeat but I think the narrative and the institutionalised thinking that we’re incapable of being a progressive football nation won’t effect the clarity of thinking and our determination to see an Irish team that supporters can identify with and are exhilarated by as we watch with our own eyes the high number of young players coming through to fulfil their potential within the framework of the Irish team.”
To dispense with Kenny at this juncture would feel like, not just a rejection of the man, but the concepts he promotes above. It would seem akin to admitting defeat and accepting that it is in Irish footballers’ DNA — as some have suggested — to rely primarily on basic, cautious, route-one football. A reversion to the near-unwatchable backs-to-the-wall 0-0 draws with Denmark and earning smash-and-grab victories at home to Georgia.
Indeed, for too long, Irish football has been obsessed with quick-fix solutions, both on the field and off it. Many millions of euro, which would have been better spent on the grassroots and player development, were instead reserved for high-profile managers that would earn positive results in the short term but contribute to Irish football’s stagnation in the long term.
Those previously in power bought into ‘the cult of the manager’ — as if one figure can suddenly cure Irish football’s many ills.
By contrast, Kenny is the first national team coach in a long time who has shown a genuine interest in what happens beyond the current qualifying campaign, in the long term benefit of Irish football even if it comes at his own immediate expense. To sack him and hire a new ‘miracle man’ would be simply repeating mistakes of the past and assuming one individual can swiftly resolve everything.
Last night’s defeat was one consequence of years of neglect at an administrative level in Irish football and there is bound to be plenty more pain on the horizon as Kenny and others work hard to undo the bad decisions of the past.
2. Was this Ireland team ever genuine World Cup qualification contenders in the first place?
Many critics suggested last night that the Luxembourg defeat effectively ended Ireland’s World Cup qualification hopes.
Yet such talk assumes the Boys in Green had a genuine chance of reaching Qatar in the first place.
Consider it this way. There are 13 spots available for European teams. You would suspect that eight of those will be filled by Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia and Germany. That leaves five spots for the rest of Europe to compete for, and teams that have not been mentioned so far include the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland and Turkey. Given Ireland’s form even prior to losing their opening two qualifiers, it would take an extreme optimist to believe they belong in that company at present.
Whereas the question up until last night, based on the assumption that Portugal would top the group, was whether they could stay alive and earn a play-off spot by finishing second, even third place is now starting look like far from a guarantee. Luxembourg were the better team at times last night, while Azerbaijan will be no pushovers either, given that they were only beaten 1-0 by Portugal during the week.
3. Gavin Bazunu the only positive on a gloomy night
There was precisely one positive from an Irish perspective at the Aviva last night: Gavin Bazunu’s performance.
He was the one Irish player on the pitch that it would fair to fully absolve from any blame in the defeat.
He could do nothing about the superbly taken goal, his distribution was frequently excellent and everything else that was asked of him, he managed well.
For a 19-year-old to deliver such a composed performance was particularly impressive.
Bazunu certainly appears to have all the attributes required to be a top goalkeeper for many years to come.
It was also another step on a remarkable journey that saw him make his Shamrock Rovers debut at 16, in the process becoming the youngest first-team player in the club’s history.
He then signed for Man City in 2019 and has impressed coaches at the Etihad outfit ever since.
This season has seen more progress, with the Dublin-born teenager of Nigerian descent joining League One side Rochdale on loan and establishing himself as a regular there.
It’s just a pity that the biggest moment in his career to date has been overshadowed for reasons largely beyond his control, but there are undoubtedly better days to come for the accomplished young goalkeeper.
4. Does Brian Kerr have a point?
"Tonight isn't just about Stephen's faults, or the team's faults. This has been coming for a good while.
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 27, 2021
"This is the fault of a lack of a proper player development structure and coaching structure in Ireland."
Brian Kerr on Irish football.#COYBIG #IRLLUX #WCQ pic.twitter.com/plFwZRugR2
Of the many critiques delivered in the wake of last night’s abysmal showing, Brian Kerr’s was among the most stinging.
“Tonight isn’t just down to Stephen’s faults or the team’s faults,” the former Ireland boss said on Virgin Media. “This has been coming for a good while.
“This is the fault of a lack of proper player development structure and coaching structure in Ireland for many years. There has been a dearth of talent coming through from the teams.
“Suddenly, Stephen is pouring players through to the senior team from the U21s that were successful for him for about a year who aren’t ready. But there was no real quality or depth to that, that has been proven.
“And the people who are in charge of that development should seriously be looking at themselves tonight, rather than just criticising the manager.”
Kerr himself boasts an impressive track record at developing players, given how he was integral to the most successful Irish underage sides ever, so his comments deserve to be considered seriously.
It’s hard to argue against the notion that Irish football has suffered due to player development issues in the past. Between the so-called ‘golden era’ that saw the likes of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne come through, up until the present day, there was a definite lull in the production of top-level players. Nonetheless, there are also other factors, such as the English top flight essentially becoming an international league during that period, making it harder for Irish youngsters to thrive, with the sport in this country increasingly dependent on under-resourced League of Ireland clubs to produce talent.
Yet the narrative being promoted by Kenny and others is that the future is bright.
Ruud Dokter was appointed FAI High Performance Director in 2013 and it is still too early to clearly say whether or not his reign has been a success.
Certainly, the much-publicised controversies off the pitch in recent times have significantly hindered Irish football, from a financial, reputational and psychological standpoint.
Yet there remains optimism that the situation is improving, with consistently excellent results at underage level providing evidence for that outlook.
In addition, Aaron Connolly, Troy Parrott, Michael Obafemi, Dara O’Shea, Will Smallbone, Caoimhin Kelleher, Adam Idah and Mark Travers are among the highly promising young players to have received game time at Premier League level in the past year or two, while others such as Nathan Collins and Jason Knight are considered to be individuals with great potential in the Championship.
None of these players have established themselves as stars yet. Indeed, most aren’t even regulars in their respective clubs’ teams and statistically, it is likely that some will fall off the radar as is so often the case with gifted young players.
Yet the depth of talent at underage level appears greater now from an Irish perspective than it was five or 10 years ago, when far fewer young players were even getting a chance at Premier League level. And it will take another five to 10 years before we can definitively decide whether Kenny’s kids have flourished, or if Irish football’s underage structures remain as problematic as ever.
What is certain, however, is that with the new rules regarding Brexit preventing Irish players under 18 from joining English teams, Premier League clubs can surely no longer be regarded as the most reliable environments in which to develop promising Irish players.
Perhaps with occasional assistance from Seria A and La Liga clubs, League of Ireland academies are surely now the most viable pathway forward, but whether the requisite levels of patience, investment and support can be implemented is another matter.
Excellent read which the result and results over the past number of years in perspective.
Stick with Stephen and staff .it will eventually prove fruititous.
@John Kenny: John I think we should stick with him for sure but disagree with your final sentence. Look at the teams that we would call in the past our barometer: Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland. These were sides that not so long ago Ireland had a 50/50 shot of beating. Over two legs you’d of said yes. How many of those would we compete against never mind get a result off of now? Our level is tier 4/ seeded 4 whatever they call it now. This Luxembourg team is our current level. Here are some others Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia. This is our level now
Thanks for the article Paul. The result from last night is the repercussions of over 20 years of mismanagement from the FAI. The problem with this team as been apparent since the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, in the final stage of the O’ Neil era. We should follow the footsteps Wales made at the beginning of the 2010′s under Toshack. They blooded in young players such as Bale and it was worked for them. We are in this process under Kenny. The players are the problem not the manager and it won’t change if we change the manager.
@Sorcha Morrissey Excellent points re. Wales.
Had forgotten that .
Look, Michael O Neill in Northern Ireland went through a similar string of poor results. Won 1 in 19 ,I think. Lost to Luxembourg away and drew at home.N.I. were ranked 129 in world rankings and he got to 20 in his 8 years stint.Built a side over these years.
More time required with this project.
@John Kenny: I also forgot about Micheal O Neill. We just badly need to restart the whole concept of football in Ireland.
Out of his depth end of
@Bar Hay: Bar stool expert …..elaborate please?
@Austin Shields: fairly self explanatory at this stage go back to bed man
@Bar Hay: your wrong about Kenny, he’s forgotten more then you will ever learn . You go back to bed or at least , educate yourself
@Shane Lad: ok lad you stick with Kenny it will be great craic
@Bar Hay: Explain why? What would a new coach do differently with this squad?Some thought we were going to qualify for World Cup, most football people knew was’nt going to happen this time with this squad.Fair play to Kenny for trying to get them playing decent football, not his fault they can’t get the ball into the net, but these are the players he has at the moment. At least with Dundalk he had players who were used to winning and knew how to play….
@running man: kenny has a league of ireland C. V his last step up in level in Scotland didn’t go to well… He is not and has not enough high level management… Way out of his depth… A dic##ead Delaney appointment…
@running man: we can’t score and just got beat by Luxembourg and the manager was actually frightened talking on tv last night and you want me to explain seriously
@Damien Garvey: Damien – he isn’t just a league of ireland manager he is a league of ireland manager that made a league of Ireland team competitive in the europa league getting points on teams with vastly more money and experienced and playing great football……. that’s exactly the type of cv we need someone who can do more with less – but last night wasn’t good enough.
@Bar Hay: Honest question…do you think NI fans thought Micheal O’Neill was out of his depth??
@Damien Garvey: You’ve chosen to ignore what he did with the under 21s there
Exactly. Let’s develop our own academies and stop hoping the British do that for us. At least its out of our hands now with Brexit.
Perspective is needed. Irish players are of poor quality which took the field last night. Injuries have ravaged the squad. Everyone has said how poor the opposition are but they have beaten Georgia and drew with France in the past few years which we struggle to do. People calling for his head when I dont know what other manager could do better unless you go back to playing ultra defensive and hope for a draw or to sneak a set piece win !
@John Michael Mcdonald: ah this is the problem though. I agree we don’t have the players to be confident that we’d be in the 13 that would qualify. But we have better players than Trap, and O’Neill gave us credit for, we can play football and average more than a pass a minute. and kenny has proved that. But we also have far better players and a far deeper squad than Luxembourg. I’ve been all for the development we need, BUT despite all our signs of development against Slovakia and Serbia (and even Finland). None of it counts for a lot when you can’t beat a team that you are much better than. It’s dejecting. The only thing saving kenny is that there is no obvious alternative – other than one that will revert to the outdated tactics that we are trying to move away from.
@Augustus hoop: but chalk and cheese from the quality that o’Neill and trap had. That’s exactly the problem. I could barely watch them play under trap and o Neill. Then they were totally found out at the Euros. It’s time to get a philosophy of play from the ground up. How many times have we seen players who cant play a ten yard pass to a team mate. Michael o’Neill had the north playing much better football than us. Says it all.
@Augustus hoop: We are not “much better” than Luxembourg though are we Augustus? Serbia gifted us the second on Wednesday night & all we heard was ah we scored two goals away from home. Totally outplayed on Wednesday and it was clear from the off last night who had the better ball players. THEM.
@John Michael Mcdonald: Kenny Cunningham has been slated on the comments here for bigging up the opposition. While he went a bit too far with some of his assessment, he was right about a lot of it. They were more comfortable and creative on the ball than we are (regardless of who them being from a tiny country), they were confident and hungrier to. Sadlier made the point that when we went behind we played with more urgency and that would suggest that we didn’t play with any attacking tempo for 80 mins which I would agree with. Again there was no passion in the players in the anthem, and no heart or desire by most involved. Perhaps Kenny is too soft on them when they could do with a kick up the hole
@Noel Doherty: I just want to know who everyone thinks they should get in and what else they would do with the squad that is available at the moment. Think the players are good enough to win last night but didnt have the appetite for it. Motivation comes from within. If they cant get themselves up for a match then it’s a reflection on the players. Managers cant make players better in a few days at international level
@Noel Doherty: re Serbia – they gifted us the second, but we arguably gifted them all 3, and should have had a peno. That was the best we’ve played in an away game since 2016 euros….
Re Luxembourg my point is that player by player we are much better than Luxembourg in terms of quality and depth of squad, but last night it didn’t look like that, which is a killer. Because up to now I’ve felt we’ve been really unlucky but the change in approach was worth it (I was so sick of watching us not be able to put a pass together and cling on for lucky draws in previous regimes) but if change of approach means you can’t beat poor teams I don’t know where it leaves us.
@Augustus hoop: I agree with you change was needed & no way do I think Stephen Kenny should go. I’m only saying, which I think we are both in agreeance, that we are at a poor level now player wise and it’s depressing. I beg to differ on Wednesday night with you but that’s fair enough we are allowed to banter ;-)
@John Michael Mcdonald: I think Kenny should be retained & supported John.
@Aidan Prior: remember a few years back watch Georgia pass us off the pitch and we scraped a draw. Players definitely need to be pulled up.
@Aidan Prior: when he tried to light a fire under them, someone dobbed him into the Press for it.
Needs to stronger support for the league of Ireland. Too much money from Irish football fans going across the water
I still think all this mess over the last few years is one person’s fault for not doing his job – John Delaney!!
@Garry: I agree. Nobody in the FAI with any foresight. Hell, it doesn’t even take foresight! The IRFU have provided a blueprint.
Fewer professional teams with a more secure funding structure. A more competitive cross border league including teams from N Ireland and Scotland would be my suggestion.
We simply don’t have good enough players, there has been glimpses under Kenny of potential. But realistically the players coming through are not ready yet and the older generation of Brady, McLean , Hendrick among others are not up to it, and there is nothing in between. A few poor campaigns on the horizon I think.
If anyone can convince me that Stephen Kenny kicks the ball for players, who couldn’t play a simple 3 yard pass last night, then I will concede that he has to go. But last time I looked, he stood at the side of the pitch with the same bemused look on his face as all the Irish fans had. If the players energy levels are drained, how can the tempo go from zero to frenetic after Luxembourg scored. How come they put in their best shift in the last 5 minutes plus stoppage time when their lack of game time and match fitness is used as an excuse. Kenny isn’t the problem, the lack of quality coupled with the lack of spirit from the players is a couple of the many problems deep rooted in Irish football. It’ll be a long time before we will be able to consistently compete at a high level again.
@Paul Linehan: his interview last night after the match showed he can’t handle it and he knew
@Bar Hay: His interview showed how devastated he was, nothing else. The Seamus Coleman interview was similar, so I suppose by your assessment he can’t handle whatever your ‘it’ is either. The difference in performance between last night and the one in Belgrade were light years apart. The players let him down big time
Stephen Kenny is going nowhere. The FAI don’t have the resources or the will to sack him even if they wanted too.
I would like to see thou the acceptance that (A)
there is no excuse for not having pride in the jersey.
(B)
the failings in the development structures argument have been going on for decades and it was never a reason for any other manager for not getting the boot.
(C)
Results matter. If we are short players for whatever reason, than play a system that suits the game in hand now. If thats long ball or park the bus for a game or two than so be it. If SK is the man with the plan than he must have more than 1 way to play.
As this train wreck of a campaign has to go on can we at least call it as we see it and not make excuses for him as we pretend time will solve everything?
I’ve a pain in my hole reading about great young lads “coming through”. Lads in the reserves of Premier League teams or playing for Stoke or Millwall or the like.
@Tuesday Paddy: sorry about your hole, but you must enjoy it if you keep going back for more!
Under Noel Kings reign as Under 21 manager we hardly ever read an article about talented young Irish players that had done well in his team or in the UK
Michael O’Neil had a shocking start to his Northern Ireland career (6-0 loss to Holland), but they stuck with him. I believe we have to do the same otherwise the whole Kenny experiment is a waste of time. If we revert to the Trap style approach we’ll never move forward.
These young lads are decent players but they’re not ready yet for this level. Playing them isnt the managers fault as he’s little choice.
Some may not go on to be Premier League class, but hopefully some will and if playing regularly at international level they will gel and progress if given time.
Kenny’s luck has to change, if Connolly, Parrot, Obafemi and Idah start kicking on things will look brighter.
We’ve decent players in Kellegher, Bazuna, O’Shea, Knight, Molumby, Cullen, possibly Ronan, Kilkenny, Connell, Collins
The project is right but he’s the wrong person to implement it. I know a lot has gone on and the luck with situations hasn’t been great, and the FAI are a shambles but it’s clear to see that Kenny is really out of his depth.
Now I haven’t a clue who is the right person to be honest. We’d all have our dream choices, really world class coaches who can handle this project. They’d be too expensive and no interest in the Ireland job. Then there’s the next group, level 2, with the likes of Hughton in there and even he wouldn’t want it. So we would need to look at 3 or 4 levels down and that’s where we got Kenny from. So who is the right person, the fall guy for this campaign, probably Kenny. So we will end up sticking with him even tho he is out of his depth.
@Ultimate FM: This culture Ireland have soccer if team’s do badly sack the manager has to change kenny in the job a wet weekend he needs time,once players go on to the pitch it’s up to them to take responsibility for how they play manager’s can’t do anymore, changing manager’s Willy nilly does nobody any good they need time to built up a relationship with one another and as the team don’t play together week in week out they need to gel, soccer unlike GAA the Dublin player’s train together a couple of times a week they know what to expect from their team mates I know GAA is an amuter sport unlike soccer, the Irish soccer team don’t train together very often before they play a match and most off them don’t play together when play for their clubs rome wasn’t built in a day
@Moya Power-kelly: I 100% agree with you that the culture of changing managers willy-nilly isn’t great, 100%. However 10 games in international football is enough time to judge someone. I like Kenny, I really do but he is clearly out of his depth and as I said in my comment he will be kept on because I don’t think anyone better than him will want the job. So he won’t lose his job for now.
If we’re going to stick with Kenny let him start playing an U23 side from now on. Start giving these young players experience.
Why are the media so defensive of this guy, guy plays average football and is naive. His greatest managerial achievement is managing in Scotland where he didn’t last very long. Only reason he’s in a job is because the FAI are broke.
Stephen has shown himself to be extremely naive. Throwing in a bunch of unproven kids to a competitive World Cup campaign was crazy. He dismissed a lot of the under performing regulars too easily. McCarthy would have ground out a point in Serbia and won ugly last night. We are not Barca. His substitutions were poor, taking off centre half’s cost us the points last night. It’s lucky theirvwere no fans there last night as it would have been a case of a crowd calling for his head
@Pat Brennan: “he dismissed at lot of underperforming regulars to easily”
You’re a gas man Pat.
No he doesn’t. He just isn’t qualified to deal with players of several levels above where he is at. Who appointed him and in the first place. Looks like the yellow pack option. His whole demeanor lacks confidence. He is not able to look at an interviewer. This lack of confidence will seep down to players they see their manager struggling and will automatically loose confidence in him. The manager has to always appear confidence and in control not matter what’s going on around him this is not Kenny grat in loi but this is not loi.