STEPHEN KENNY WAS keen to take ownership of his side’s shock 1-0 defeat to Luxembourg in tonight’s 2022 World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.

An 85th-minute goal from Gerson Rodrigues has left the Republic of Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for next year’s tournament in Qatar in tatters.

“Anything I say would sound like I’m making excuses,” the Ireland manager told RTÉ. “It’s just not good enough. Obviously a lot of the players are not playing for their clubs. The second game in three days, some of them struggled with it.”

Following on from Wednesday’s 3-2 loss away to Serbia, the Luxembourg result leaves Ireland without a single point from their opening two fixtures. Kenny is also still winless in his 10 games since succeeding Mick McCarthy.

“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.”

When asked if Ireland’s qualification hopes are now over, Kenny said: “It’s very early to say that, but it’s a terrible result. There’s no getting away from that, we can’t hide from that.

“It’s a really, really disappointing result and it’s not good enough. To go from the performance in Serbia to losing tonight against Luxembourg is completely unacceptable. I’m very disappointed with that.”

Kenny also insisted that he’s not worried about his position, in spite of the disappointing start that he has endured since taking charge of the team for the first time last September.

“That’s not even in question,” said the former Dundalk boss. “I’m not even concerned about that at the minute, I’m just concerned that we’ve had a really, really poor result tonight and none of us are happy with that. We have to accept the criticism that comes our way because it’s unacceptable to lose at home like that.

“It’s a bad night, a very bad night, and we’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again. It’s very disappointing, we’re all gutted, and we have to take the criticism.”