Kenny promises Republic will recover after catastrophic start

STEPHEN KENNY is convinced he can do “a very good job” as Republic of Ireland manager despite presiding over a catastrophic start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Kenny’s 10-game reign plumbed new depths on Saturday when Ireland slipped to an ignominious 1-0 qualifier defeat at home to Luxembourg. He insisted he was not worried about his job despite mounting criticism and when asked why, he replied: “It’s not something I’m focusing on. From my point of view, I can’t affect that.

“We all have setbacks at various times and I have absolute conviction that I’m capable of doing a very good job here, but on this evidence that doesn’t back it up, I do realise that. We have to do a hell of a lot better than that.”

Kenny’s planned elevation from the under-21 boss to the senior job as Mick McCarthy stepped aside did not meet with universal approval, and the hugely successful League of Ireland boss is facing an uphill battle to win over his detractors.

The Republic will not be at this summer’s rescheduled Euro 2020 finals after a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat in Slovakia, and their chances of making it to the next year’s World Cup finals have been drastically reduced after back-to-back defeats by Serbia and Luxembourg.

Nevertheless, Kenny remains defiant as he turns his attention to tomorrow’s friendly against Qatar in Debrecen.

He said: “I don’t think it’s up to me to convince people, what we’ve got to do is get better results and better performances.

“[The Luxembourg defeat] is a real setback for us, I’m not denying that, there’s no getting away from that. I have to accept the criticism, that comes my way...and fight harder to do better. That will be my intention.”