Kenny won't assume but will adapt for Armenia encounter

Stephen Kenny has admitted that his side will need to adapt their style to handle the soaring temperatures that are expected for Saturday's game in Armenia.

The Republic of Ireland open their UEFA Nations League campaign with an away fixture at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan, with conditions expected to test the Irish side as much as their opponents will compete.

Kicking off at 5pm local time, the pitch-level temperatures are expected to be approaching 30 degrees, and while Kenny said that he did not want to make too much out of the weather, he acknowledged that it would be a factor.

"It’s something that we’re going to have to take on board and adapt to," said Kenny, speaking at the pre-match press conference in Yerevan.

"We had the opportunity to train yesterday at match time at 5pm and today at 5pm, so it can give us some perspective of what it will be like tomorrow, so that’s something we can adapt to.

"The players are looking forward to the game. We’re not making it a big issue, but we will have to adapt parts of what we do.

"We trained in it yesterday, we’ll train today and we’ll gain some experience from that."

Recent FIFA and UEFA tournaments have incorporated water breaks into the match programme in certain sweltering conditions, however, the Ireland manger is unsure that the game in Yerevan will merit the break in play.

Kenny did stress, however, that while it would be better to be playing the game at 7:45pm, he is thankful that the game was not scheduled for earlier in the afternoon.

"Maybe not, depending on the temperature," said Kenny when asked whether water breaks had been confirmed. "It has to be over a certain temperature to get water breaks, and at the moment it's below that.

"We'll have to adapt aspects of our