Stephen Kenny: 'We've made it hard for ourselves' after defeat to Greece

Stephen Kenny admitted that qualifying for Euro 2024 has become an even taller order in the wake of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to group rivals Greece in Athens.

It's the second loss on the trot for the Boys in Green in Group B and given the presence of France and the Netherlands, already slim hopes of a top two finish became much more remote by the time the full-time whistle blew at the OPAP Arena in the Greek capital.

Speaking to RTÉ group soccer correspondent Tony O'Donoghue, Ireland manager Kenny acknowledged the criticism that will come the way of the management team and players, although he was adamant that they will look to bounce back against minnows Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium.

"We've made it hard for ourselves. All we can do is get ready for Monday," he said.

"There's more or less a full house nearly again for Gibraltar on Monday, so we're going to get ourselves right and focus to get back to winning ways.

"Criticism is part of it and I have to accept it tonight. We wanted it to better than it was tonight. There's no doubt about that.

"At the same time, we were still right in the game until the end and had chances to equalise."

Kenny admitted that the performance left much to be desired as a first-half penalty from Greek captain Tasos Bakasetas following a handball by Callum O'Dowda and a second-half goal from Giorgos Masouras put paid to Irish hopes.

"Disappointed with the performance. But we're still well in the game for all of it," he said.

"We just let ourselves down with the defending for the two goals. That was the disappointing aspect.

"In the first half, Greece were better than us. They had more control of the game, they hurt us with the big switches from right to left and left to right, those 40-50 yard