Victory vital in Armenia as Nations League kicks off

Stephen Kenny proclaimed that Ireland could win their Nations League group back in October.

Buoyed by two wins in a row, perhaps, and on the back of excellent performances against Serbia and Portugal the month previous, the manager made the bold prediction despite going into the hat as third seeds and yet to learn the opposition.

"The Nations League in June, we have four matches and our ambition is to win the group," said Kenny. "We will take the Nations League extremely seriously and will be determined to win the group."

Ukraine, Scotland and Armenia duly presented themselves in the way of the premature prophecy, yet Kenny remained upbeat following the draw, claiming that the intention remained to win the group.

The fact remains, however, that Ireland have yet to win a Nations League game in ten attempts, and while Martin O’Neill was responsible for the first four, Kenny came out fighting against the criticism of his team to fail to win in the following six.

A simple enough question to bat away as the manager was asked would it be a good time to put that record to bed away in Yerevan tonight, yet Kenny felt the need to stand up for that tough, tough time for the team, and most particularly himself, who was in the firing line throughout a period where his leadership was constantly called into question.

Kenny felt that it was "completely unfair" to assess that doomed campaign amidst the dark Covid cloud that followed his side from game to game, taking out chunks of his squad at a time.

While he has a very valid point and can speak with a lot more authority off the back of an eight-game unbeaten streak, while reminding us that the team scored 23 goals in 12 months, there appeared little benefit of dragging up the past rather than