MY NEW BLOOD WILL SERVE IRELAND WELL

STEPHEN KENNY accepts there have been bumps in the road during his watch as Ireland manager.

But whatever comes of his future, he believes he has served Irish football well by blooding 19 players at senior level.

Under-fire Kenny (above) has been left in charge for the four remaining games this year before the FAI conducts a review into his tenure.

“It’s out of my control at this stage,” said Kenny when quizzed on his future ahead of Friday’s clash with Greece and Monday week’s game in Gibraltar.

“The only thing I can focus on is making sure that we try and get six points in this window.

“We can’t rely on Holland losing but if it happens we go into the November window with something to play for. Alternatively, we have to wait and see if the possibility exists for a play-off in March. After that I just have to finish strongly, everything else is out of my control.” Kenny continued: “I understand the Irish job comes with great pressure so I’m not going to complain about that.

“Before I think about November, or what’s beyond that, we have to make sure we look after October and try to get the victories we need.

“It’s part of management. You have to deal with disappointments, show resilience and show an ability to come back from setbacks.

“Of course we would have wanted to get to the Euros, that would be the ambition. It’s not gone yet. There’s a slim chance obviously, very slim on the automatic qualification, and on the play-off we’ll see. Let’s see how this window goes.”

Meaningful results have been hard to come by and two European Championship and one World Cup campaign have ended prematurely.

Kenny added: “Have I done everything perfectly? No, I haven’t in every game. I’m not suggesting that.

“Maybe people think we brought too many players in but if we didn’t bring them in what were the alternatives and where were they?

“There are a lot of players now that will serve Ireland well over the next couple of years that have got a number of caps under their belt.

“Nathan Collins (inset), Jason Knight, Dara O’shea, Jayson Molumby, there are so many. All of the strikers.”