Kenny eyes Dutch victory to revitalise Euros hopes

Stephen Kenny is hoping a packed Aviva Stadium can drive his team to a shock victory over the Netherlands on Sunday with the Republic of Ireland's chances of finishing second in Group B now hanging by a thread.

France are running away with it having notched five wins from five. Their 2-0 defeat of the Boys in Green tonight was a deserved and comfortable victory.

Ireland are fourth in the five-team table, but if they can turn over the Dutch, they'll be level on points with them and the Greeks, albeit having played more games than both.

Anything less than three points will, realistically, leave the Boys in Green banking on their Nations League showing being enough to get them into the play-offs, though they'll be counting on a myriad of permutations going their way.

Still, Kenny is keeping the faith.

"Holland beating Greece tonight means that if we beat Holland on Sunday we're all level, the three of us are level in relation to second place," the manager told RTÉ Sport.

"We've Greece to come at home in October and Gibraltar away, so it is a big game, we do need a victory.

"It won't be easy... but we've won three of our last four competitive games at home. At home, since Covid has finished and we've been able to get full capacity crowds, all our crowds are sellouts no matter who we're playing, but particularly for Holland now on Sunday. The crowd give the players energy."

He admitted France were simply too good in Paris, adding: "France might be the best team in the world, they're one of the best two teams in the world. They have really cutting edge players like Kylian Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele who have exceptional pace in the team.

"They didn't create many chances in the first half, that was the disappointing thing, to concede