September 1st, 2001, is also known as Jason McAteer Day. Anyone old enough to remember has Roy Keane cutting Marc Overmars in two etched in their memory.
“I was a supporter in the crowd that day,” said Stephen Kenny of the 1-0 defeat of the Netherlands, thanks to McAteer’s neat finish at the old Lansdowne Road.
“It was an unbelievable performance all right and a great win, and a famous win, of course.”
It was one of those rare, special days when the Republic of Ireland qualified for the 2002 World Cup at the expense of a star-studded Dutch line-up.
Kenny was coming to the end of his first managerial gig at Longford Town and about to take the reins at Bohemians.
“That team was a really top-class Irish team.”
He tells no lie: Shay Given, Gary Kelly, Richard Dunne, Steve Staunton, Ian Harte, McAteer, Roy Keane, Matt Holland, Kevin Kilbane, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane, with Niall Quinn and Steve Finnan off the bench.
“But from our point of view, that’s what we need to do,” said Kenny following Thursday’s comprehensive 2-0 defeat to France in Paris.
The 51-year-old refused to shy away from the gulf in quality at Parc des Princes but he retained other foibles ahead of Netherlands’ return to Dublin. After every poor result, the manager has offered the same excuses and people are beginning to notice, as Richie Sadlier pointed out on RTÉ.
“When we beat Scotland 3-0 [in 2022], that was the highest-ranked team that Ireland had beaten since Bosnia in the Aviva, before the 2016 Euros,” said Kenny. “But now we are going to have to go up a level again because Holland are ranked above that again. So, we are going to have to go up levels.
“The Irish crowd, it is a sell-out again and it will be electric. Holland have obviously a lot of good players who won’t be fazed by that, they have a lot of quality, we’ve got to raise our game and the home crowd can help us do that in our home environment. We have got to believe that we can put in the performance that can get the result we need.”
Therein lies the rub. This Ireland team cannot believe in something they have yet to experience. This is the last-chance saloon for a manager who has been granted more time to fail better than his predecessors were afforded, and for good reason — Kenny’s ultimate goal was to qualify for next summer’s European Championships.
Sunday is the must-win moment in this three-year project.
The FAI’s refocus on producing talent that can carve out lasting careers will be mentioned when Kenny’s time in charge ends, be that next month after another late-night board meeting, or when this campaign trickles to its natural conclusion in November or after a March play-off. Or Kenny’s Ireland will suddenly unlock a run of consistent results. Beat the Dutch, beat Greece next month, beat Gibraltar away before escaping a loss at the Johann Cruyff Arena and the Boys in Green will be replaying all the old hits.
Speaking of old hits, this week Kenny was still mentioning the 18 players he has capped since 2020. A remarkable statistic, the first time he uttered it, that he continually tries to mould his international record of 10 wins, 10 draws and 15 defeats —scoring 43 goals and conceding 39 — into something else has become a rod for his own back.
Kenny also offered another bizarre fact about Ireland winning three of their last four home competitive matches and scoring nine goals in the process.
Obafemi injured
Let’s look at those victories.
It took a deeply concerning 52 minutes to score the first of three goals against Gibraltar in June after Ireland became only the second team to fail to score against the 201st-ranked side in the world before half-time. They were also the first back in 2019.
Beating Scotland 3-0 in June 2022 has proved the high-water mark of the Kenny era but it was a reactive display, coming after defeats to Armenia and Ukraine. It was also an isolated incident. The goalscorers that day are missing in action as Troy Parrott cannot get into the squad and Michael Obafemi is injured, again.
The 3-2 Nations League win over Armenia in September 2022 was almost the night the wheels came clean off the bandwagon. It needed a Robbie Brady penalty in the 91st minute to avoid a humiliating draw with a nation ranked 92nd by Fifa.
For Sunday night, Kenny noted being without Evan Ferguson, Enda Stevens, Will Keane, Séamus Coleman and Mikey Johnston but Matt Doherty returns from suspension.
