Stephen Kenny: No complaints against world's best

The Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes suffered another setback following defeat in Paris against a French team Stephen Kenny rates amongst the best in the world.

“France are, in my view, are one of the best two teams in the world,” Irish manager Stephen Kenny said.

“They have a real cutting edge players with Kylian Mbappé, (Antoine) Griezmann and (Ousmane) Dembélé, who bring exceptional pace to their team.

“I think they didn’t create many chances against us in the first half. That was the disappointing thing, to concede after 19 minutes.

“It was a great strike but to concede a second (just) after half time gave us a real mountain to climb.

“The thing about today, we could have lost convincingly but the players gave absolutely everything of themselves. That’s the first time we have been beaten by more than a goal by one of the top teams. It is not something we are sort of proud of but I am just saying the players, they weren’t going to give a goal up easy. They put their bodies on the line.” 

In reality, on the eve of the Rugby World Cup, Stephen Kenny’s side were soundly beaten by a confident French side. Led by the irresistible Aurélien Tchouaméni, France should have won by a wider 2-0 margin.

As for the Republic, another qualifier against a Netherlands team that overcame Greece 3-0 is now an absolute must win next Sunday evening.

“I think it was a difficult night for us and for myself,” Irish man of the match Chiedozie Ogbene admitted.

“We gave everything out there on the pitch today. We just came up short. I wouldn’t fault the effort because we came up against a world class team.

“Everyone tried their best and we tried to implement our game. We were in it at the start but I think we just came up