Stephen Kenny's Euro 2024 confession as St Patrick's Athletic boss gets to grips with challenges of new role
Former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny is preparing for his fourth Dublin derby in just eight games in charge of St Patrick's Athletic.
Stephen Kenny has admitted that it’s been difficult to watch Euro 2024 for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, he is up to his eyeballs preparing for an assault on FOUR fronts with the St Patrick’s Athletic side that he inherited in mid-May, as they compete in the Premier Division, FAI Cup, Europa Conference League and the transfer market.
And secondly, he says it’s a tough watch “for obvious reasons” - referring to Ireland’s failure to qualify for this summer’s finals under his watch and his subsequent departure from the job.
READ MORE: Phil Foden 'welcome' at Derry City, jokes Ruaidhri Higgins after latest signing
READ MORE: St Pat's boss Stephen Kenny reacts to link with Lincoln midfielder Danny Mandroiu
Hopes of automatic qualification were all but killed off when the draw pitted Kenny’s Boys in Green with France and the Netherlands, while their performance in the Nations League prior to the qualifiers wasn’t good enough to earn them a play-off.
Asked if he had observed any trends so far at the Euros, Kenny replied: “Because of the job here, and being so busy, I’ve not watched as much of it as you normally would.
“It’s been an incredibly intense period, with the transfer window, and planning for our trips to Waterford, Derry and Switzerland (FC Vaduz), finalising staff, everything behind the scenes.
“I’ve watched several games. It’s not an easy watch for me personally, you know for obvious reasons. That’s the reality.
“Yeah, it’s been an interesting tournament but I haven’t evaluated the whole tournament to discuss trends at this time.”
One trend that he would like to build on is Dublin derby success - with Bohemians the visitors at Richmond Park when the league returns tonight from a short mid-season break.
Pat’s went into the interval with an injury-time win over Shamrock Rovers and Kenny said: “One Dublin derby leads into another, we have Bohemians on Friday, so it’s an important game for both teams and we want to make sure we are ready.
“We need to improve, we know we have scope for improvement, it was important to get that win against Shamrock Rovers, because that has galvanised support.”
Kenny, meanwhile, has explained why he has brought in a multi-ball system at Richmond Park since his return to League of Ireland management.
“We introduced ball boys, because there weren’t any, so that was important for throw-ins to get the ball back quickly,” he said.
“It’s not so much game-management, it's just something I noticed, particularly, you know, when you go behind in a game and the sense of frustration when you can't get the game going quickly again.
“And there's a trend of goalkeepers going down as well of course, not just in the League of Ireland but worldwide I suppose.
“Taking time out of a game, there's a lot of that, team meetings as the match is going on, to organise tactical discussions while the keeper is down, all that kind of stuff, these are sort of trends.
“It brings a stop-start element to the rhythm of a game and that's something I've become aware of.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
