Stephen Kenny: 'You straight away start thinking how are we at 3-1'

Stephen Kenny cut a frustrated figure as he spoke with the press in the aftermath of Ireland's 3-2 defeat to their hosts Serbia.

Kenny spoke of how an encouraging performance isn’t rewarded with any points at this level but once the initial disappointment subsides they will take the positives from the game of which there were plenty.

"For the game to get to 3-1 was a kick in the teeth, you straight away start thinking how are we at 3-1” reflected Kenny after the game.

“We got the goal and really rallied. All of our subs made an impact and kept going but we just came out the wrong side of a narrow defeat and it is one we are very disappointed about.

“You don’t get anything for a decent performance unfortunately. I thought the players were terrific. 

“Normally when you concede three goals it’s the result of giving up six or seven chances but they scored with their first chance. I’m really disappointed to lose that game.”

It would have been very interesting to have had the technology of VAR available last night. The game wasn’t without it’s talking points and controversies. Aaron Connolly’s strong penalty claim being one. The game at this point was right in the balance at 1-1 and although Serbia were growing at pace into the game, it is a big decision to miss out on and one that if given and converted would have edged Ireland back into the driving seat once more.

“We’ve had a blatant penalty rejected, Absolutely, it looks a cast iron penalty, Aaron has touched the ball away with the player then going through him. It was a blatant penalty and that’s a very pivotal moment in the game. 

“With moments like this you have to ask how can there be VAR for some matches and not others? I don’t understand but there’s nothing we can do about that.

“The defeats hurt and we are very disappointed to lose. On the night it was a very evenly balanced game overall. Before we conceded the goal we had quite a few attacks and quite a lot of positive play and on the night there wasn’t much in the game.”

Ireland’s man of the match Alan Browne put Kenny’s side ahead after just eighteen minutes. His dejection and frustration after the match was clear to see after such an encouraging performance.

Speaking shortly after the game he said that he would rather have picked up a result and not scored himself on the night.

However, just five minutes before the break Serbia were level with a well taken goal from Vlahovic. Well taken but defensively not good enough at international level against players of such quality.

A quality ball over the top from Tadic saw Dara O’Shea caught out badly in behind. Vlahovic made no mistake with the gift undoing all of Ireland’s impressive press and work rate in the opening stages.

“We’re massively disappointed. You need to hold out until half time and at 1-0 going in it’s a different game. Personally I’d rather not score and get a result,” said Browne when speaking to the press via video link after the game.

“On our part It’s just about staying switched on at all times and watching the runner everywhere he goes. You can’t take anything away from Serbia and their win but from our point of view we are disappointed with the result and the goals we’ve conceded.”

One flash point from the game that both Kenny and Browne agreed on in the aftermath was the penalty claim from Connolly in the first half.

Connolly seemed to have been clearly bundled over by Mitrovic in the box with the game evenly poised at 1-1 but with the luxury of VAR not available the referee took the decision to award a corner much to Ireland’s dismay.

“They were ruthless on the night they punished us. I still felt we had enough to win the game and I’m not one to look for excuses but it was a stonewall penalty on Aaron and we feel hard done by but we won’t dwell on it as we have another important game at the weekend and one we want to win.”

A tough night all around but thankfully on a night with plenty of what if’s and disappointment there were also lots of encouraging signs and positives. These signs and aspects of the game will need to be brought into focus quickly as the attention now turns to Luxembourg on home soil this weekend.

“It’s touched on, you concede a goal it’s going to be mentioned but we talked about the positives as well. The manager made some good subs at the right time to get us back into the game and we tried our best to get that equaliser and take something from the game but it wasn’t to be.

“We never questioned ourselves. We believe in ourselves as a group and in our team mates and there are some positives to take from tonight. For the most part to a man the lads worked their socks off and that’s all you can ever ask. We need to take the positives from tonight and make sure we get a result now this weekend.”

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— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 25, 2021