Kenny admits Ireland exit is 'quite possible'

Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland side limped towards the final whistle of a drab affair in Amsterdam on Saturday night. 

The one-nil defeat - likely to be Kenny's last competitive fixture in charge of the national team - brings their Euro qualification campaign to a close, with just a friendly against New Zealand left until the manager's contract ends. 

On the chances of his weekend in Amsterdam being his last foray out of the country as Ireland boss, Kenny admitted it was "quite possible".

"I really don’t know," Kenny remarked. "I don’t control that. It’s quite possible. I don’t know. 

"But all I can say is I see the effort tonight and high level of skill, bravery. It wasn’t enough and Holland were better than us."

Kenny continued: "What’s the alternative? Defend deep and try and see it out? They will break you down anyway. We tried to create chances at home by pressing higher. They caused us problems tonight when they played through our press. 

"But the players were courageous in and out of possession and fought until the end."

With wins against minnows Gibraltar accounting for their only points of the campaign, Kenny spoke of the difficulty of beating the world's top teams. 

"Holland are world class and one of the top teams in Europe with players at the best clubs," Kenny said. "We played them twice - nothing in the game in Dublin and tonight they had a lot of chances and we relied on last ditch defending and Gavin (Bazunu) in goal. 

“The reason Ireland have never beaten a tier-one team in our history in an away game is because it’s bloody hard. That’s why all the great ([Irish) teams haven’t managed it. When you come to places like Holland, it’s a tough game. I salute my players as they wanted the ball in all