Ireland booed off as Greece mount more pressure on Stephen Kenny
IRELAND 0
GREECE…2 (Giorgos Giakoumakis 20, Giorgis Masouras 45+3)
If this nadir marks the end for Stephen Kenny, there can be no unlucky Friday 13th to be blamed for the final blow.
The Ireland manager looked crestfallen by the end, his tie dispensed with by first-half, and gazing up to barren stands.
Whatever portion of the 41,239 were still there by the finish made their feelings known with a chorus of boos.
Greece’s pair of Giorgos – Giakoumakis and Masouras – inflicted the damage with first-half goals but the demise of the manager’s era was cemented in the loss to the same opposition in Athens.
Fourth place appears a certainty following this fifth defeat in six qualifiers and it’s just a case of when the FAI engineer the change of manager.
FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill suggested nothing would occur until next month’s campaign conclusion but circumstances dictate.
That Ireland scored just once in 270 minutes at home to the three nations around them – an Adam Idah penalty – presents an equally damning indictment of the regression under Kenny’s watch.
If only they had backed up their midweek trash-talk with half the conviction, this might have been a contest.
Instead, Gus Poyet was the manager beaming at full-time, not bothering to shake the hand of Keith Andrews.
By the end of the June shambles, Kenny had abandoned his favoured back-five formation and four months on, he ended a continuity sequence of 23 games by reverting to the traditional four defenders.
Liam Scales was the beneficiary, slotting in at left-back for his debut and enabling Ireland to congest a midfield area they were outnumbered and overpowered in during the first meeting.
Part of his duties was to mind his former Celtic teammate
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