A win... but one that has hurt the Kenny plan
Manager’s hard sell must stop – it’s time to deliver
T“The year 2023 will be one of judgement for the Irish boss”
HE TALKING has to stop. No more advocacy, no more lists of debutants and passionate outlines of the grand vision. They dominated an abject opponent for 70 minutes, as they should, until Armenia got a goal back, Ireland collapsed into a jittery heap, the visitors equalised and pushed on trying to win the game. At some point, the selling had to stop.
We can identify last night as that point. The immediate consequence could have been relegation in the Nations League, but the more important one is how it clarifies the status of Kenny’s Ireland.
Come the start of qualification for the European Championships next March, he has to produce a team that can compete against all opponents and beat the more modest ones. He has to find a stable midfield capable of protecting his defence, and he needs to come up with a way of making a side with no effective goal-scoring forward into a more ruthless unit.
The year 2023 will be one of judgement.
In 12 months’ time, the argument that has contorted itself for two years will be concluded.
The question will be answered: is Kenny good enough to successfully implement his dream for Ireland?
Armenia did not look the team to interrogate his position with much aggression. For 70 minutes, was the challenge expected last June, when an awful defeat in Yerevan ended the team’s Nations League prospects on day one.
The Armenians here were shaky in defence, they boasted the central presence of a Polo mint, and until well after 9pm, their attacking players must have shivered as much as the fans did on a night when the first sharp pangs of autumn cold could be felt on Lansdowne Road.
Yet they competed as equals with Ireland across 10 chaotic closing minutes, until the undeniable thrill occasioned by a VAR check showed Ireland a way to victory — and two outraged Armenians off the field on red cards.
Robbie Brady’s winner drew a thunderous roar from the crowd, and the immediate drama was gripping. But this was not a night of triumph for the manager and his methods.
The inconsistency goes on. Clawing back victory from the prospect of mortification can’t be convincingly spun as evidence of progression. Anything but a victory would have been an embarrassment.
However much the manager works his plans into the thinking of this group — and the latter months of 2022 produced intermitted evidence that the players are becoming more practised in his demands — they will always be stymied by the scoring stutters.
That is a failing that has plagued Irish teams for years, but the midfield weakness exploited by Ukraine in June, Scotland last Friday and Armenia at times here is another concern.
Ending this Nations League effort with a win had a relevance in setting Ireland’s status for the next campaign, but it was as important in stabilising another see-saw period in the Kenny era.
But the alarmingly unsettled form that this win took takes much of the good from it.
Kenny needs to stop selling. He’s been pushing his wares hard, sometimes with the desperation of Willy Loman. There has been enough said about the players he has capped and the vision he brought to the job. That’s a running commentary on past times.
For what it’s worth — and one suspects it is not as valuable an asset as is sometimes stated — the fans remain committed to the Kenny plan.
Those that attended last night are, anyway.
The ground was nowhere near full, but this was hardly a judgement on Kenny’s Ireland, more a reflection of the time of year, the turn in the weather, and feeling that there was little of true consequence contingent on the outcome.
Those that did come entered into the occasion rather in the spirit of those who used to attend the old lions v Christians battles on the side of the big cats.
These predators really have to chew their food, though, and the Armenians survived well enough to leave the beasts in retreat until a stray Armenian hand saved Ireland.
The last 20 minutes must be the most scrutinised, however.
Ireland unravelled, and the confidence that should have been earned in previous performances this summer, and over the first 45 minutes in Hampden Park, evaporated.
They survived, but it was a victory that inflicted damage on the Kenny plan.
And so the story that won’t stay stable bucks and jerks again.
Decisive judgement will shortly be at hand. The Euros’ qualifiers will determine all.
Soon, the adjectives will be stowed away and plainer measures will be used.
And then we’ll know if Kenny’s Ireland is a viable one.