Stephen Kenny defends Republic of Ireland’s record in Nations League

Stephen Kenny has launched a passionate defence of the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League record as they attempt to win their first game in the competition at the 11th attempt.

The Republic are one of only five countries – Iceland, Northern Ireland, Andorra and San Marino are the others – who are yet to register a victory in the tournament after two editions, and that is a record they are desperate to address when they run out against Armenia in Yerevan on Saturday evening.

Kenny has challenged his players to win their League B1 group to clinch second-seed status for October’s Euro 2024 qualifying draw, but he has insisted it would be harsh to judge his only previous campaign – Martin O’Neill was in charge for the first – as a result of the Covid-19 crisis which enveloped it.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference at the Republican Stadium, he said: “We had a situation where after coming back from a Euro play-off, we had to play Wales. We had a call late at night to say that five of the starting XI couldn’t play because they were close contacts and two of the players on the plane couldn’t play.

“We were one of the few countries at the time that were adopting those rules on close contacts – two metres – so for two windows we really had minus 10 players.

“In difficult circumstances, all of the games were either drawn or lost by a goal. The players acquitted themselves well at the time considering the circumstances. It’s not fair to assess that campaign at all, completely unfair.”

In all, the Republic have drawn five and lost five of the 10 Nations League games they have played to date, scoring only two goals in the process.

However, they have made steady progress in the last year or so and head into the Armenia game