Soccer

Profile: A new daring era of Irish football begins under visionary Stephen Kenny

It has been a long and winding road for Stephen Kenny in reaching the top job in the country. As he prepares to make his managerial debut with the Republic of Ireland senior team, Brendan Crossan re-traces the Dubliner's steps...

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny takes charge of his first game as senior manager in Bulgaria tonight
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny takes charge of his first game as senior manager in Bulgaria tonight Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny takes charge of his first game as senior manager in Bulgaria tonight

A NEW era for Irish football begins in Sofia tonight. It’s a long time since the FAI put their trust in a home-grown managerial talent to take the big job.

When the events of Saipan derailed Mick McCarthy in the early throes of the Euro 2004 qualification campaign, underage managerial sensation Brian Kerr was promoted to the senior role.

After the FAI hierarchy decided to cut Kerr loose after less than one qualification campaign, they sought bigger names with varying degrees of success.

Steve Staunton, Giovanni Trapattoni, Martin O’Neill and Mick McCarthy (again) had cracks at the senior role which yielded just two further qualifications for major tournaments [Euro 2012 and Euro 2016].

If Stephen Kenny manages to make it three Euro final appearances in a row, McCarthy can claim a sizeable chunk of the credit having secured a play-off spot before Covid19 intervened and effectively shredded his contract before finishing the job.

FAI history dictates that home-grown managerial talents are afforded less margin for error, while Trapattoni and O’Neill were given wider berths during their time in charge, helped of course by the pair's ability to deliver back-to-back Euro final appearances.

So what can we expect from the new man in charge?

Stephen Kenny is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating figures in Irish football.

Regardless of the FAI’s approach, the affable Dubliner hasn’t given himself a lot of room to manoeuvre.

He’s not in the business of buying himself time in the role. While he’s acknowledged the youthful nature of his first squad to face Bulgaria and Finland over the next four days, there has been little or no talk of a rebuild.

In Sunday's press briefing he talked about his impatience for success.

There was a wonderful romance associated with Brian Kerr’s rise from grassroots football in Ireland to the top job 17 years ago and the same applies to Kenny’s long and winding journey.

From the early days of coaching St Pat’s U21s to Longford, Bohemians, Derry City, Dunfermline, Derry City again, Shamrock Rovers before cutting a dash with Dundalk and the Republic’s U21s, Kenny’s achievements certainly merit a crack at the senior job.

A man of many quirks and a strong social conscience, Kenny’s programme notes at Dundalk were always worth reading.

In the match programme for Dundalk's Champions League Qualifier with FH Hafnarfiodur in July 2016 he discussed the Chilcot report and the British Government's "unreserved apology" for the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry.

“The fact that a Conservative Prime Minister [David Cameron] would make such a prompt, forthright, unequivocal apology gained David Cameron huge respect in Derry,” Kenny wrote.

In accepting one of many Irish Soccer Writers’ Manager of the Year awards during his Dundalk days, he used the platform to highlight the plight of the homeless in Ireland.

In an interview with The Irish News during Dundalk’s lofty rise to the Europa League group stages in 2016 he spoke passionately about how a football team has the ability to lift the esteem of an entire town or city.

“It’s about the value of community and the impact a team can have on a community. It can’t be underestimated,” he explained.

“You saw it with Derry in ’06 when we had that European run. We flew into Derry airport and there were TV crews and crowds of people. The whole city was taken over.”

In the same interview he didn't shy away from the three times he was sacked in his career - Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers and Dunfermline - admitting that he probably needed to be more pragmatic in trying to save the latter from relegation from the Scottish Premier League, even though he'd guided the minnows to the Scottish Cup final against Celtic in that same 2006/07 season.

Given the stylish way in which Dundalk dominated the domestic game and made historic in-roads on the European stage during his six-year Oriel Park reign, more people began listening to the Gospel according to Stephen Kenny.

He vehemently disagreed with the way Irish football, both domestically and on the international stage, was portrayed and felt there was a better way of playing the game.

“The train of thought that is going around at the minute - that many commentators have said that it is in our DNA to play high up the pitch and to play a more direct style because that suits our psyche, our level of skill - or rather, our supposed lack of it," he said.

“I just can’t agree with that. I cannot tell you how strongly I disagree with that.

“But that’s the narrative. And people believe that. And they are conditioned to believe it. And then we go back and blame how kids are coached at U10 or something. It is about having the ability to pass the ball, the ability to believe in yourself, to fulfil your potential as players and as a team and seeing where that takes you.”

A hugely likeable and respected figure within Irish media circles, Kenny comes with many eccentricities.

Stephen O’Flynn, who played for him at Derry City for two seasons in the mid-Noughties, tells the story of how Kenny always had to have a clear dressing-room floor before delivering his team-talks.

“We used to throw bottle tops on the floor, just to annoy him,” Flynn recalled. “He kept on kicking them out of the way. He hated empty bottles lying around on the floor.

"One day we threw loads of bottles into the middle of the dressing-room floor – it was like a rubbish tip – and he came in and just started laughing. He said: ‘You’re just doing that to wind me up’.

“We’d been doing it for a year and he was only noticing now!"

Now 48, Stephen Kenny has finally arrived at his destination. A new, daring era of Irish football is about to unfold.