AFTER LOSING DUFF AND KELLY, KENNY KNOWS NEXT MOVE WILL BE KEY TO HIS FUTURE
Daniel McDonnell
SEPTEMBER
Kenny’s tenure starts off in low-key fashion with a 1-1 draw in Bulgaria and a 1-0 closeddoors defeat to Finland at the Aviva Stadium. Shane Duffy scores a late goal in Sofia in the same week that he completes a loan move to Celtic which has proved to be disastrous with his form going off a cliff.
OCTOBER
(1) Ireland’s European Championship dream ends with a penalty shootout defeat to Slovakia in Bratislava after several glorious chances were wasted. But the build-up and aftermath is dominated by Covid dramas with Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah ruled out of the game as they sat in the wrong place on the flight close to an FAI staff member who tested positive for Covid. It later transpired that this replacement staff member drafted in at the last minute to replace another Covid casualty had actually returned a false positive. Kenny questioned the need for the FAI to bring a stand-in media officer.
(2) The Nations League games with Wales (0-0) and Finland (0-1) deliver one point and no goals but the games are almost a sideshow to more Covid dramas with four starters for the
Welsh match ruled out on the morning of the game because of where they sat on the flight home from Slovakia. Kenny fields a patched-up team for both matches because of the unexpected number of ins and outs.
NOVEMBER
(1) David McGoldrick, Ireland’s best player in 2019 and the standout in Slovakia, announces his retirement from international football to concentrate on club football and family, thus leaving Kenny without his first-choice attacker.
(2) Covid issues again rule out key players for a triple-header that results in defeats to England (friendly) and Wales (UEFA Nations League) before a drab Dublin draw with Bulgaria confirms that Ireland will drop to third seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw. The goalless run is extended to seven games or 11 hours depending on your preferred measurement.
(3) The football is quickly forgotten as the UK ‘Daily Mail’ claim that a video shown by Kenny before the England match was ‘antiEnglish’ and had caused disquiet. That initial story is given legs by an FAI statement asserting they would be ‘urgently’ looking into it and an investigation is launched. Goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly has to deny that he was the leak but it emerges that he had warned against showing the video and doubts hang over his position. (4) After discussions with senior players and staff, the FAI conclude Kenny had no case to answer and consider ‘the matter is now closed’.