Stephen Kenny: 'I think we're improving as a team overall; we still need to improve again.'
Stephen Kenny during the Ireland Portugal game Credit: Eddie Lennon (ETPhotos)
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was full of praise for his side following an impressive 0-0 draw against Portugal on Thursday but recognised that his charges still have areas to work on ahead of their final World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg on Sunday.
The positive performance against a Portugal side full of talent is the latest in a string of encouraging results for an Irish side high in confidence and Kenny was quick to highlight the noticeable improvement in recent games.
“I think we’re improving as a team overall; we still need to improve again. There’s areas that we can still improve on”, he said.
“I think collectively the players are getting better, as a team we’re getting better, everyone is playing their part.”
Playing in front of a capacity crowd at the Aviva Stadium for the first time in almost two years, the Irish team made a slow start, but Kenny was pleased at how his side were able to compose themselves.
“I felt we started a little bit nervously, Portugal retained possession very well early in the game,” Kenny said.
“Halfway through the first half we picked it up and improved, Chiedozie (Ogbene) was very influential, Callum Robinson started getting Matt Doherty in down the right and we played well in that period.”
“In the second half I actually thought we were the better team, we had the better play, better football overall, and played very well in the second half,” he added.
Matt Doherty thought he had claimed all three points with a goal deep into second half stoppage time, but saw the effort chalked off as Will Keane was judged to have fouled Rui Patricio, a decision which Kenny expressed his disdain of.
“We were very disappointed to see a legitimate goal ruled out, we looked at it and it was clearly legitimate. There was no foul so no reason for it to be ruled out, so we were disappointed with that.”
Ireland’s front three of Robinson, Ogbene and Jamie McGrath have received praise for their recent international performances, as Kenny explained his decision to stick with the relatively inexperienced trio.
“Obviously Adam Idah has been lacking minutes at club level and he was playing with an illness in the previous camp.”
“I thought the three players against Qatar were excellent, they balanced each other well and with Callum getting a hat-trick I didn’t want to take him out of there.”
“Jamie sort of offers you something different, he comes into pockets and links the play, so they sort of complement each other.”
At the other end of the pitch, the rear guard of Shane Duffy, John Egan and Seamus Coleman put in a disciplined performance to limit the threat of Cristiano Ronaldo to just a couple of chances throughout the game.
“I thought the back three were absolutely excellent. I know Callum got Man of the Match, but I probably would have given it to Shane Duffy for his performance, I think technically it’s the best I’ve ever seen him play in terms of his range of passing,” Kenny said.
“Apart from the 97th minute winner Ronaldo got (in September), we’re unbeaten in nine games, we’re defensively better, we’re not giving up as many chances, three clean sheets in the last three games.”
“In my opinion, I think John Egan could play in the Champions League, I think he’s good enough to do that.”
Ireland will finish in third in their qualifying group if they can beat Luxembourg on Sunday, but Kenny was content to dwell on a satisfactory result against Portugal before turning his attention to the next game.
“Of course we want to go to Luxembourg and win, but its about tonight really and against Portugal was very outstanding technically for 60 minutes, for 65 minutes maybe, and a good defensive display for 90 minutes.”
