Stephen Kelly: Green shoots for next Ireland manager

Stephen Kelly believes the Republic of Ireland players are capable of delivering improved performances and results under a new manager after the FAI announced it would not be offering Stephen Kenny a new contract.

The Boys in Green ended their 2023 with a lacklustre 1-1 draw against New Zealand on Tuesday night, with the manager admitting afterwards that it may have been his final game in charge.

That proved to be the case as less than 24 hours later, the decision was confirmed after a meeting and a presentation to the FAI board by CEO Jonathan Hill and director of football Marc Canham.

Kenny replaced Mick McCarthy as manager in April 2020, but has presided over 17 losses from his 40 games in charge.

Former international Kelly said it was difficult watching a clearly emotional Kenny speak to the media following the New Zealand match, but that the 52-year-old can have few complaints.

"It's been coming a while now," he said. "The results just haven’t been good enough. It’s not even against the likes of France and Netherlands, it’s against the teams that we feel we should be competing against, the likes of Greece, Armenia, Luxembourg over the course of the three years of his tenure.

"Dropping points against those nations, losing to those nations, we never had a fighting chance of qualifying for a major tournament."

The former Spurs, Birmingham City and Fulham defender said that while there was no doubting Kenny's commitment to the Irish cause, something had to give after just six competitive victories under his watch.

"We are in a worse off position than what we were when he took over football-wise, but there is no doubt about his commitment and energy. He went into it wholeheartedly, but it hasn’t worked," Kelly said.

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