The Stephen Kenny era went out with a whimper rather than a roar on Saturday night, as Ireland put in yet another lifeless performance to round out their EURO 2024 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 loss in Amsterdam against the Netherlands.
Defeat to the Dutch was the sixth from eight games in this group, with the only points coming from two wins against Gibraltar earlier in the group (the same Gibraltar who were whacked 14-0 by France in a record-breaking loss on Saturday).
For Kenny, the writing is on the wall, and it would absolutely stun the footballing public in this country if he were to be kept on for next year's Nations League fixtures, with a change of manager widely expected to be confirmed at the FAI Board meeting on November 28.
Despite the poor results and erratic decision making, Kenny has remained a hugely popular figure among the group of players at his disposal, with several coming out to defend the Irish manager amid a frenzy of speculation surrounding his future.
After defeat in Amsterdam on Saturday night, Matt Doherty issued perhaps the strongest defence yet, hitting out at those who have questioned Kenny's methods and suggesting he does not see any manager who could do more for the players than Kenny has done so far with this Irish squad.
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Netherlands 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Stephen Kenny earns staunch defence from captain Doherty
Matt Doherty was given the captain's armband in Amsterdam in the absence of Seamus Coleman and a number of other senior players. Doherty would ultimately be substituted with 13 minutes to go, after a poor showing down the right hand side of a back five.
Though a 1-0 defeat away to the Dutch does not look disastrous on face value, the gulf in class between the teams was remarkable to see, even with the Netherlands ravaged by injury and out-of-sorts.
Doherty was one of several Ireland players to yet again have an off night at the Johan Cruijff Arena. After the game, he spoke to RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue, and offered a staunch defence of manager Stephen Kenny.
Matt Doherty feels Stephen Kenny can still deliver for Ireland in the role of manager after the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign ended with defeat to the Netherlands#NEDIRE #soccer #Euro2024Qualifiers pic.twitter.com/GNelJWUNOH
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 18, 2023
When it was put to Doherty that Saturday's defeat could have been the final competitive game under the stewardship of Stephen Kenny, the Wolves man would fight back, offering a personal defence of the man who has trusted him as a pillar of this side over the past three years.
Doherty said that he wished those speculating on Kenny's future could see behind the scenes, and said that Ireland would be "hard pressed" to find anyone who could match the level of attention to detail given by Kenny and his coaching staff:
I don't know anything about that [Kenny being removed]. I hope, obviously, that that's not the case.
Like I've said many times before, this group needs to be coached well. That's exactly the things we've been getting for a long time now. I hope he stays on.
After the game, obviously there was a lot of disappointment, talking about little things and differences between getting results and not getting results.
But going back to Stephen...I've always backed him, he's always backed me. For me, I'd love to see him and all the coaching staff stay.
If people saw what it was like on the training pitch, what he's like in the changing room, how he cares about his players and just generally how they set us up, the attention to detail they have...I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody else who can deliver that.
It's the most passionate defence of Stephen Kenny from an Ireland player that we can remember, and is in stark contrast to the opinions of many match-going Irish fans and the majority of pundits, who are all in apparent agreement that the time has come for a change at the top of Irish football.
Kenny himself was visibly emotional in his own post-match interview, in a piece of television which even Richie Sadlier and the RTÉ panel acknowledged was a tough watch.
A tough night for Kenny may well be the last time he leads this Irish team in a competitive game. He will have another outing in front of the Aviva Stadium crowd on Tuesday night, when Ireland face New Zealand in a friendly. Kick-off in Dublin is at 7:45pm.
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