CONOR HOURIHANE HAS expressed his bemusement at how the video shown by Stephen Kenny to the Ireland squad prior to their game against England in November became such a contentious issue.

The midfielder – currently on loan to Swansea City from Aston Villa – was in the room when Kenny delivered his motivational video message prior to the friendly international at Wembley.

Within a week this became an issue when the FAI launched an internal investigation into the matter which was swiftly brought to a conclusion with the association backing their manager.

Quite how it got to that stage is a question only the FAI can answer. Certainly the players, including Hourihane, were surprised. “There wasn’t one word about anyone being disappointed with it, angry about it or showing any kind of annoyance,” the Cork-man said in an interview with Off The Ball last night.

“Nobody was frustrated or got in little groups like players do at all levels and talked about the video. Me being one of the senior players, I didn’t get any wind of that whatsoever.

“So when I went home and for it all to be blown up, it was confusing. The whole thing from start to finish was strange for me.

“People are trying to stick the knife in when times are tough rather than sticking together. People try to blow things up and rock the boat a little bit but come March we have to crack on and forget about all of that.”