Brave to the end, hindsight may be kind to Stephen Kenny tenure

Stephen Kenny came into the Ireland job under a Covid cloud, and while the new manager predicted a sunny outlook, bringing bright ideas to the role, he was ultimately unable to shift that dark shadow over his three years in the top job in the country.

In a bizarre move by the FAI, he was named Under-21 manager and senior manager-in-waiting back in 2018, when Mick McCarthy was appointed successor to Martin O'Neill. The intention was he would take over following Euro 2020.

It was a break from the conventional, big-name manager, following the high-profile appointments of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, as well as famed Italian duo Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli.

Kenny fell into the Brian Kerr category of manager who had made their name in Ireland and were deemed to have earned their shot at managing the senior team.

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Kerr was a proven winner with St Patrick’s Athletic, following it up by bringing unprecedented success with the underage teams, while Kenny stood out from the pack by bringing glory to Dundalk over a six-year period, winning four league titles, three FAI Cups and qualifying for the Europa League group stages.

It is fair to say that Kenny did not enjoy unilateral support when he took over the role, with some questioning his stature within the game, while others beat him with that old stick of never having played the game at a high level.

However, considering the slowly emerging financial state of the FAI, his appointment was seen as a prudent option