Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PAULO’HEHIR
THERE was nothing off-thecuff about Stephen Kenny’s show of force immediately after Tuesday’s draw with Qatar that extended his winless start to eleven games.
Knowing it was his final media task of a taxing triple header – and that he may not be heard again until the summer – Kenny was determined to have the last word.
Eager to set – or at least alter – the agenda himself, it was a premeditated retaliation on national TV and, later again, in his post-match press conference.
Here’s a sample of that fighting talk:
z ‘Everyone is coming out of the woodwork, wanting to kick us when we’re down…
z ‘Some people have turned very quickly…
z ‘I’ve experienced a lot in my life. It doesn’t hurt me because, do you know what, I don’t care…
z ‘I know what I’m doing. I’ve real clarity in what I’m trying to implement...
z ‘We’ll get back on track and give the Irish supporters an Irish team to be proud of…
z ‘And I’m going to be part of that, I’m going to manage that and I’m going to make sure we’re even better.”
Take that, naysayers! Or, he just provided his critics with even more ammunition because these bold statements have become a hallmark of his tenure.
Cast your mind back to late August, a week out from his first game as Ireland senior manager in Bulgaria.
Kenny declared that he wanted to change the perception of the Irish team.
He spoke well, but then quickly admitted it was actually a private thought which he hadn’t meant to blurt out. That’s a huge motivation and number one for me – it’s more important than anything else,” he said at the time.
“It takes time for the style to evolve, but I’m impatient. I haven’t got a long time and I’m not looking for that crutch, saying it takes two years or whatever.
“We’re impatient. We want to be successful in a hurry.”
Trouble is, Ireland haven’t been successful under his watch – not yet anyway. But there are signs of growth, even if they are in the eye of the beholder.
Romantic idealism will only carry you so far. Kenny needs results to back it up.
But the continual, jaded reference from critics to the heady Jack Charlton days, even Mick Mccarthy, Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’neill have no relevance to today.
Say what you like about Kenny, he sticks to his guns.
Around Dundalk’s Europa League group stage games, he would arrive into pre-match press conferences with a prepared theme in mind.
You could ask him something bland about team-news or the opposition and within 15 seconds of answering he would launch into some other, forceful tangent.
But it was always designed to big up his players and to state with absolute conviction that Dundalk could not only hold their own, but compete.
And for the most part it had the desired effect as the Lilywhites believed in his message and were ultra competitive in that 2016 campaign.
In tough times, some of Kenny’s predecessors with Ireland preferred to highlight the flaws and limitations of players.
Kenny hasn’t had much to sing about, but you cannot accuse him of throwing his players under the bus even when he is under this level of scrutiny.
Quite the opposite in fact, even if some underperforming seniors had to get their heads around being dropped when such ruthless action can’t really have shocked them.
Time with his players has been at a premium, so the value of a nine-day Spanish training camp in June – with friendlies against Andorra and Hungary – cannot be overstated.
In 2014, a struggling
Michael O’neill brought Northern Ireland on a similar venture to South America and he maintains it was the making of his team. On taking charge, O’neill was determined to pick the North off the floor and change their mindset. But it took him 10 games to record a win – a fact Kenny highlighted this week.
He then became a big success with Euro 2016 qualification and the agony of a narrow World Cup play-off defeat to Switzerland.
Kenny came out swinging after Qatar and is determined to salvage something from the World Cup wreckage. Whether he is up to the task remains to be seen, but it shouldn’t all be on him.
Adapting to new formations and being asked to pass a football with conviction shouldn’t be an alien concept to professional footballers and while their manager has been talking the talk, it’s about time they walked the walk.