LIKE EVERYONE ELSE in the country, Stephen Kenny has been captivated by the performances of Irish athletes at the Olympics.
The St Patrick’s Athletic manager has always sought to push boundaries and aim for new frontiers.
There has been success and there has been heartbreak.
But over the last week or so he has felt as inspired as the rest of us.
“It is amazing, the achievements have been phenomenal. Tremendous achievements, sheer phenomenal achievements by Irish men and women, it’s great to see, absolutely fantastic to see,” he said.
“You know, the elite mindset, if you make statements and you don’t back them up, you’re ridiculed very easily in this country.
“Daniel Wiffen, like, certainly makes the strongest of statements but he’s obviously a phenomenon to win the way he has, and Rhys McClenaghan, likewise, on dealing with setbacks and coming back, and of course the two rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy. Amazing, everyone else within that, you know, so it’s phenomenal.”
On Tuesday night he watched Kellie Harrington become a back-to-back champion with another commanding performance in the ring.
“It was great, a very skilful performance, that’s the thing that struck me, I can’t pretend to be an expert, I’m not, but it was a highly technical performance.”
Rhasidat Adeleke, Kenny’s fellow Tallaght native, was competing in her 400 metre semi-final a couple of hours after the St Pat’s boss fulfilled his pre-match media duties ahead of his side’s UEFA Conference League third-round qualifier with Sabah FK of Azerbaijan.
“Of course I will watch, fantastic. Israel Olatunde, who didn’t make the Olympics, was in my daughter’s class in Dundalk, my lads went to his school so they all know him. Rashidat is a phenomenon, amazing, the confidence.”
Kenny laughed as he said his players would now get an early idea of their pre-match teamtalk ahead of time.
He was probably only half joking.
If St Pat’s can overcome Sabah, a side heavily financed and aiming for the group stages, they will reach the play-offs and be just one tie away from earning a spot themselves.
Aside from the fact that victory in this tie would bring in a minimum of €1.65 million, it’s the sporting achievement that has Kenny so enthralled.
He may have led Dundalk to the Europa League in 2016 – guaranteed after a famous win over BATE Borisov in Tallaght Stadium where this home leg will take place for the Saints – but the prospect of making history with the St Pat’s is now a possibility.
It is why he publicly called on the FAI to step in and reschedule their Premier Division game with Galway United this Sunday, after they beat Sligo Rovers last weekend, namechecking director of football Marc Canham as well as board member Packie Bonner.
Kenny confirmed that a request to push the fixture back from 3pm to 6pm had also been made but was unlikely to be accepted before the second leg next week.
“I am mainly focused on the game, I don’t want to get distracted and I know people might not agree with me but they might not have the insight that I have either. In fact they don’t,” he said.
“People thought when I said Marc Canham and Packie Bonner, I wasn’t criticising them, I was making the point that I felt they should be part… they are key football people in the country in terms of their positions so they should be consulted, administrators administer, they want consistency and want to get through every week without a furore or some sort of controversy.
“To qualify for the group stages you’ve got to do something, only two clubs have done it,” Kenny added.
“We’re seventh in the league and we actually have a chance of doing it. I wasn’t criticising, I have no beef with Marc Canham, I get on well with Marc. I was making the point that if football people, people who consider the game in that way, if they were asked ‘what’s our best way of getting through for an Irish team?’
“We make these statements, these strategy statements, ‘oh, we want three teams or two teams in the group stages’. That’s never happening unless you have a strategy, and the only strategy is that the team that wins the league has a chance and everyone else has no chance. We’ll only ever have one [team] unless someone does something extraordinary.
“If they were viewing it, ‘What’s our best chance?’ This is a chance for Irish football, go and give them every chance, but then there is parish politics stuff and that wins.”
Regarding Canham and Bonner, Kenny explained his reasoning for mentioning them in relation to this scenario.
“They should have a viewpoint because they’d be making a decision based on what gives you the best chance of winning. They’d be thinking, ‘How can we have a level playing field for everyone? Will there be a problem this time next year?’ All that stuff. It’s not about fairness, it’s about the opportunities to create special moments for the country and how can you do that?
“I’m not trying to personalise with anybody, with the administrators or the football directors, I’m trying to think there should be a collaborative approach with consultation. That’s why people have expertise, it shouldn’t be different departments [in the FAI]. It should be a fluid exchange of ideas between departments. Not ‘that’s your department, that’s your department, that’s your department.’
“I remember when I first went into the FAI… You have to exchange ideas and have debate, not close down the hatches, someone comes in and close down everything, circle the wagons and fight your corner.”
On Thursday he will be fighting the corner of St Pat’s and if he can pull off another famous European night Irish football will have to take notice.
Thursday – UEFA Conference League third-round qualifier, first leg: St Patrick’s Athletic v Sabah FK, 7.45pm.
