Should tonight's Euro 2024 qualifier in Amsterdam prove to be Stephen Kenny’s last competitive match in charge of the national team, the manager looks set to go out all guns blazing.
Kenny walked into the job with a bold and brave template to transform Irish football from the top down, and three years in, the man is not for turning – he will leave by the front door, if push comes to shove.
The manager put out his boldest and bravest selection and employed the highest-tempo tactics of his tenure in the home clash against the Netherlands in Dublin, and while eventually out-manoeuvred by a Dutch master in the second half, he looks set to roll the dice once again.
Not long into the role and when results did not immediately appear to be forthcoming, the voices from the outside – and as it would appear, from the inside – were calling for a change of tack; a return to the defence-minded approach of virtually all who sailed before him in the modern Jack Charlton era of Irish football.
Kenny was convinced, however, that things would turn and kept adapting while evolving, resulting in some incredible performances, but yet the results would not arrive.
In football, they say that luck evens itself out over the season, so now three years in, it must be accepted that the position that the national team currently sits in is the correct one in terms of ranking.
Yet Kenny maintains his quest for that elusive golden fleece of a result, and should this be his last chance to get that "famous away win", he is going to give it his best shot.
Granted, it would prove a very ballsy move by Kenny to replicate that front-foot approach from the first minute against a side with the quality of the Dutch, who will probably offer Ireland a touch more respect
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