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STANDING IN A hallway close to the Irish dressing room in the Aviva Stadium on Monday night and surrounded by a huddle of journalists, Stephen Kenny was trundling politely through answers to questions when he paused and asked those encircling him to take a step back.
We complied, Kenny broke away from an answer considering the difficulty posed by France and the Netherlands in next September’s window, and then his body language suddenly snapped to something more assertive.
He then delivered what, even in real time, felt like a defining moment of his tenure as Ireland manager. Kenny launched a monologue lasting five minutes and four seconds, one undeniably freighted with the intense pressure he had burdened since Friday night, when Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes suffered potentially irreparable damage in losing 2-1 to fourth seeds Greece in Athens.
Kenny began by defending his track record as a manager and his right to have been given the Ireland job, then explaining what he had done at both U21 and senior level. He wrote off the effectiveness of his first year in the job because of the disruption caused by Covid, defended the decisions he has made, made a veiled reference to the higher-profile criticism he has faced, issued a fierce backing of his coaching staff, and while he has building a team, admitted he cannot be seen to be forever striving for the future.
Much of the monologue was defiant, but there was a slightly rueful note to its end, heard in acknowledging that his future after the Euro 2024 campaign will be the decision of someone else.
Here is the full transcript.
“Sorry can you all just step back. Alright. The reality is this: this is the way I view it, right? And I don’t mind saying this, right? I have never been one to speak about myself in this vein, but starting as a young manager I was successful, I failed, and then I failed better. I went on again and had setbacks and built resilience and determination.
“I’ve been in 16 Cup finals, I’ve been in eight FAI Cup finals, I’ve been in two Scottish cup finals and won six League Cups. I won more trophies than anyone in modern history. I won five league titles. 46 Champions League and Europa League games. I beat Maccabi Tel Aviv, BATE Borisov, Gothenburg home and away, Hadjuk Split, drew with Paris Saint-German, Legia Warsaw. That is why I got the job, as I was the most successful Irish manager at this time.
“I went on from that to manage the U21 team, I got good experience, I took the radical approach of taking all those 17-year-olds and putting them in the U21 team, which never happened before. We had an exciting time, we were leading the group and might have qualified. Alright.
“Mick McCarthy is a good manager, a great man, Covid interrupted the succession plan and I had the playoff and the subsequent Covid games which were a bit of a farce because we had nine or 10 missing from each camp. We lost the playoff on penalties. It’s been said I have been three years in the job but realistically I have been two years building this team, since we lost to Serbia.
“Given 18 players their debut through our own system. We had nine years with nothing through. Nothing. We brought 18 players through the system, we finished third in the group which was probably parity. We had a bit of pain, bad defeat against Luxembourg and so forth. Alright. This is the campaign we have built for, we obviously had a right setback with the game against Greece that was obviously an important part of the plan to beat Greece, as we got a group of death.
“I am very, very strong and I am very resilient. I don’t really care…I don’t need to listen to anyone’s opinions to know what I want and what I am. I’ve taken on a lot. It’s a small community in Ireland and people are upset over a variety of things, but all the decisions I’ve made with the international team were in the best interests of international football. I have made brave decisions in the best interests of Irish football. Okay? I have made good decisions.
“I have a brilliant backroom team. Keith Andrews is an outstanding coach. Outstanding. John O’Shea has been a brilliant addition, Dean Kiely: these are top-level people. Stephen Rice has graduated and is doing a great job. And all of the backroom team. We will get better. We want to still qualify from this group. I will see out to the end of the campaign. After that, I don’t know, it’s other people’s decision.
“The objective was to qualify for this campaign. That is the objective. I am not trying to hide from that. I am not trying to build forever. We have been building a team for the last two years to try and qualify here. We have created a very, very vibrant coaching environment.
“We have completely transformed the way the team – not in every game – how the team plays. It’s now assumed that you play that way, in terms of building and playing the way we have. We have scored a lot of goals, we have conceded some we shouldn’t have. We have lost games 2-1 on the margins. I accept criticism for that. I accept criticism for that. We need to win more games. We need to win more games, and I know that. That’s what I think.”
At the conclusion, Kenny was asked whether the days since the Greece game were his toughest as Ireland manager.
“No, no. The first few months, the whole Covid period and dealing with that, was really, really tough. I can’t tell you how tough that was. It hasn’t been the toughest period at all. I know what I am doing. The players are a really talented, progressive group. A lot of them have come through together. Some great senior pros. Not all of them available in this camp, unlucky with a couple of injuries.
“We have to get ready, we have tough games in September. France in Paris is as tough as it gets. We have to prepare and try to win. I wouldn’t have got to where I got, into this job, if I didn’t believe you can achieve extraordinary things.
“The reason I took clubs from nothing and took them through divisions and into Europe and into the Europa League, I managed in the group stages of the Europa League and the reason I did that is I believe you can achieve extraordinary things. That’s what I believe.”
The interview ended with a question asking Kenny why he chose this moment to deliver such a monologue.
“It’s not because…I speak openly…it’s not like me to do it” began Kenny, before he alighted on the answer he felt most comfortable with.
“Because it just felt right.”
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