Ireland have reached a point where very few believe Kenny can turn it around
Eight hours before this absorbing but ultimately deflating contest kicked off, the FAI sent an email to supporters on its subscribers’ list with a simple message in its title: “This is it.”
Several meanings could be extracted from their marketing of a match that did not require a hard sell, despite the sense of foreboding.
This was an opportunity to keep a slim chance of qualification alive. This was the chance for Stephen Kenny to redeem himself and stave off the sack. This was the night Ireland could beat one of the bonafide big guns for the first time since 2015.
By the end, the overwhelming feeling was one of anticlimax, perhaps just grim acceptance, as the majority of those watching instead wondered: “Is this it?”
Ireland will not be at next summer’s tournament in Germany – barring an unlikely run of results that would enable them to reach a play-off via the Nations League route.
Kenny will be removed from his post – if not in the coming days then at the end of a campaign that can now only be considered a failure. The wait to claim the scalp of a big team will drag on until November’s reverse meeting – although, in all likelihood, far beyond.
The time for thorough postmortems on the Kenny era will arrive soon and his few remaining backers can still justifiably point to a long list of misfortune dating right back to the beginning.
From pandemic problems to a cruel run of injuries, Kenny has seldom had it straightforward. But his record now reads 10 wins and 15 defeats from 36 games, the only notable triumph coming against Scotland, and most importantly it has reached a stage where very few believe he can turn it around.
That said, no one who was engrossed by the opening 45 minutes of this clash could dispute that the
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