Stephen Kenny: 'We have a lot of players with potential and we have to work with them to realise that potential'

Andrew Dempsey reports from FAI HQ, Abbotstown

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has said that he is keen to help players with potential realise their potential as international football nears its return.

Kenny spoke of this when asked about his new role within the organisation this morning in Abbotstown: “My job hasn’t changed at all,” the former Dundalk boss said.

“I’m the manager of the international team, that’s all I ever wanted to be. That’s a huge privilege and honour to do that, and since I’ve come into the organisation as under-21 manager, I’ve been a strong voice, and I think that’s recognised.

“Football needs to be at the centre of the decision-making process, particularly with the international teams at all levels.

“If I can contribute and give my experience and my views, not with the board of Directors but with the senior management at the FAI, I’ll do that. I do that anyway, I think this just gives me a seat at the table if I require it.

“I don’t intend on attending all of the meetings, that’s not what I’m there for. It’s important, because of austerity at the FAI over the last number of years, some of the international teams at underage level may not have been resourced in the ways they might have wanted.

“That has a knock-on effect, as it affects how they do in qualifying for tournaments and how players come through.

“We haven’t seen players come through. We have Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady at 28 who have come through, and nobody for nine years until Aaron Connolly, aside from the two Cork City players, Alan Browne and Sean Maguire.

“I’m talking about competitive games, not friendly games. We have a lot of players with potential, we have to work with them to realise that potential.”

Kenny also stressed the importance of identifying players earlier: “We need to identify players earlier and understand the talent they have and the way we want to play.

“It’s been well-documented we have players like John Egan and Matt Doherty who are 28 now, and they’ve only played three matches each.

“They’ve been good enough for quite a few years. They are terrific players. John Egan went for four million three-and-a-half years ago to Brentford, he was probably ready then.

“We have some good players with potential, but that’s all it is. We have to try and make them part of a successful senior international team, which isn’t easy as experience is important.”

He concluded: "We haven’t qualified for three of the last four tournaments now. It’s a job to qualify, and we’ve got to do it the hard way now in going away to Slovakia and away to Bosnia or Northern Ireland.

"We need to do extraordinary things by beating Slovakia and Bosnia or Northern Ireland away. That would be an extraordinary achievement. We’ve got to do that. There’s no reason why we can’t, but we’ve got to focus on doing that first."