Players won’t begrudge Kenny his dream job

DUNDALK FC striker Pat Hoban has thrown his support behind Stephen Kenny’s decision to leave the club to take up a role with the Republic of Ireland.

Yesterday the 47-year-old was unveiled as the country’s new U-21 manager. He will then succeed Mick McCarthy as senior team boss after Euro 2020.

The Dundalk players - many of whom were in the west of Ireland having attended Stephen O’Donnell’s wedding - were as shocked as everyone when news broke of the appointment on Saturday evening but speaking to The Argus on Sunday night, Hoban said: ‘ He has no choice really. Everyone knew his ambition. He always wanted to manage Ireland so you can’t begrudge him for going.

‘When something is put in front of you like that there’s no way you can refuse it. I wouldn’t expect anyone to refuse something like that and he deserves it as well.

‘That’s the way football is. Things change and you just have to move on as quickly as you possibly can. It is a shock to the system but that’s just the way it is.’

While many Dundalk fans are more hurt at Kenny’s departure due to the fact he’s not stepping up to the top job straight away, Hoban said he could understood the logic behind his former manager’s patience.

‘You just can’t begrudge the man for going at all. He has had an unbelievable six years at Dundalk. He has won everything possible in Irish football so what else more can he do? Maybe try and get the team to the group stages of the Champions League but that’s a very tall ask so he couldn’t really do any more.

‘It’s a good way to go out on the back of a double. Everything that is happening right now he has earned. Everything since 2013, when he built a team from absolute scratch to dominating Irish football for the last five or six years, there’s no question about what he has done at this club.

‘It will be very hard to match in the future. It will be very hard for any club or any manager to do what he has done. He had to change his team as well a good few times over the course of the years. It’s not like he had the same players over and over, he had to change three and four players several times due to players leaving but he was able to build a new team with new players. He sees things that other people don’t and you have to give him every bit of credit for what he has done here because it’s phenomenal.’

Hoban, who scored 32 goals in all competitions last season, said he personally owed a lot to the gaffer.

‘There’s no doubt about it that my best three years as a footballer have been under Stephen Kenny,’ he said.

‘That’s down to the fact that the man just knew me - he knew my personality, knew how to get the best out of me and knew what to say to me to get an extra 10% out of me. He’s a fantastic manager and what he has done here is just phenomenal but what he has done for me has been brilliant.

‘I had the worst year and a half ever but he brought me back and put full confidence in me. He made me his number one striker at the club and had no doubt in his mind that I could do the business for him. That just gives you confidence alone and I played my best football under him because of him as a person. The three years says it for itself. I’ve 72 goals scored underneath him and that’s down to him always getting the best out of me. His man management skills are just top notch.’

The Loughrea native has made no secret of his own international ambitions and he said a change of setup from Martin O’Neill would give many League of Ireland players hope of fulfilling that dream.

‘I think it gives you hope because at the end of the day Stephen has done all his work in the League of Ireland. If a manager can become the Ireland manager in the future then I don’t see why League of Ireland players can’t play for their country.

‘He has won everything he has with Irish players, he has got to the Europa League group stages with Irish players and he has done well in Europe with Irish players so he has made his name with what he has built here and he has now left an unbelievable legacy and a serious platform to build on.

‘With Stephen becoming the Ireland manager it has to give you some sort of hope that if you do as well as you can in the League of Ireland that you’ve a real chance.’

While the emotion of Kenny being gone is still raw for all concerned, Hoban backed the club to still be as competitive as ever next year.

‘Us as players, as a team including staff just have to put the head down now and make sure we’re ready for next year.

‘At the end of the day a lot of us are still signed at the club so there’s still a lot to be hopeful for as well next season. We’ll be looking to try and recreate what we did this year. That’s not going to be easy but we’ll be trying our hardest to do it.

‘We have to stand up and be counted now. We’ve a league to defend and a cup to defend and we want to do well in Europe as well so us as players will be driven now to make sure we keep this going,’ he said.