Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar
Monday, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm (live on RTÉ Two)
The tune remains the same for Stephen Kenny.
Having dismissed the prospect of a snap sacking by the FAI during this European Championships qualification campaign, the Republic of Ireland manager displayed calmness, honesty and anger all in the one press conference.
Despite widespread reports that England under-21 head coach Lee Carsley is being lined up as his successor, following Friday’s underwhelming 2-1 loss to Greece in Athens, the Dubliner remains defiant despite five Irish defeats in eight competitive games.
“Yeah, I definitely do [intend to remain in the job],” said Kenny ahead the Gibraltar qualifier at the Aviva Stadium tonight. “My contract is up until the end of the campaign and whether it’s renewed will depend on how people feel the campaign went overall but certainly I fully expect to be.”
Kenny has received no assurances from the FAI board or chief executive Jonathan Hill, so a swift move to secure Carsley is potentially under consideration as the former Ireland international’s contract with the English football association is set to expire after the Under-21 European Championships that begin this week in Georgia.
“I’m not going to sit here and do a full press conference on an assessment of my period in charge or anything like that, I’m here really to prepare for tomorrow, the game against Gibraltar. It’s a big game for us and I said to you I’m disappointed that we lost against Greece but we’ve got to bounce back against Gibraltar and I’m fairly sure we can do that and we’ll take that into September.”
Ireland face France in Paris on September 7th before the Netherlands come to Dublin three days later.
When one journalist described the manager’s record of 12 defeats from from 23 competitive matches since September 2020 as ‘shambolic’, Kenny decided that enough was enough.
“It’s about time we had a bit of respect from you to be honest,” he said. “The lack of respect at times at press conferences shouldn’t be tolerated, do you know what I mean? It’s absolutely terrible at times.”
At this juncture, Ireland captain James McClean intervened with a series of his own questions.
“What do you think of the players?” McClean wondered. “Do you believe in the players, to take this country into major tournaments going forward? Do you believe as players we’re capable of doing that?”
The short answer was yes.
Kenny also revealed that Matt Doherty is the only unavailable player, following his red card in Athens while McClean will probably replace Callum O’Dowda on the left as he skippers the side for just the second time on the occasion of his 100th cap.
“John Egan is captain in Seamus [Coleman’s] absence. In discussion with John, he’s fully supportive of James being captain tomorrow. It’s a special day for James and his family. I gave him his league debut [at Derry City] when he was a teenager. To see him get 100 caps will be very special.”
