Gary Connaughton reporting from the Aviva Stadium
When it came to this Gibraltar fixture, Stephen Kenny found himself between the 201st ranked side in the world and a hard place.
A failure to win this game would most likely leave him in an untenable position, with the wolves already circling after the defeat in Athens on Friday. Even a victory was unlikely to deter the detracting voices in the media and elsewhere, with this being a game where three points is seen as the very minimum requirement.
In other words, it was a no win situation in every sense.
Gibraltar are not the joke team that many Irish fans might have assumed them to be. They have picked up some impressive results in the Nations League in recent years, including a win over Armenia and a draw with Bulgaria. In this group, they had conceded no more than three goals in any of their games up to this point despite facing three good teams.
Ireland were certainly not guaranteed to put them to the sword early on, something that could lead to a somewhat uneasy Lansdowne Road crowd.
Judging by the atmosphere in the ground in the buildup to the ground, there was little to suggest that the team was coming in off the back of their most damaging defeat in the last couple of years.
In saying that, there was a growing sense of dread in the opening half as Ireland dominated possession without creating much in terms of clearcut goalscoring opportunities. The home team passed the ball nicely, but their only method of attempting to craft a chance was to get the ball out wide and swing it into the box.
By the time the halftime whistle sounded with the scores 0-0, some fans made their feelings know as a few boos were directed towards the field of play.
Stephen Kenny opted to switch to a back four at halftime, seemingly admitting for the second successive game that he had gotten the team's initial tactical approach wrong.
Thankfully, substitute Mikey Johnston managed to open the scoring a few moments later. When Evan Ferguson nodded in their second soon after, a chorus of 'stand up for the boys in green' broke out in the signing section. By the time Adam Idah steered in a third in injury time, all was well again.
Speaking after the game, Kenny was keen to stress how important it was that the team bounced back in this fixture
We're still disappointed about Friday. We know that, we feel it, we felt that, to lose that game.
It was important - because we've got a young squad, they were disappointed - it was important to respond in the right way.
Of course, we expected to beat Gibraltar - they're the lowest seeds in the group, the expectation is there.
With 45 minutes played in last night's game, Stephen Kenny's time as Ireland manager looked to be running out. The second half performance will earn him a reprieve for now, but how long will that last?
In a vacuum, the September fixtures against France (away) and the Netherlands (home) are games you would expect at most a point from. That would not be a bad return in normal circumstances, although the Irish boss does not have the luxury of normality right now.
The Greece defeat was damaging in a number of ways, but the biggest blow was that it all but eliminated the notion that this team was making consistent progress. The way in which they were outplayed by a team of similar quality shattered the narrative that had been present during Kenny's tenure.
Now, he might need to get a big result against one of those two powerhouses in order to get those who lost that faith back on side., both among supporters and FAI decision makers.
The Netherlands are a team who are clearly not functioning well at the moment and Ireland will harbour hopes that they could overturn them in Dublin. If they fail to do so, it seems likely that Kenny will go into the October fixture at home to Greece with his job on the line.
What lessons can they carry forward from the Gibraltar game?
The return to a back four might be one. Ireland have used a back three since the autumn of 2021, and while they have looked good at times with that setup, it has also looked increasingly clunky and difficult to create chances in.
They looked like a much more potent outfit when switching the system tonight, albeit against inferior opposition. The reasoning behind the move to a back three was obvious at the time, allowing Kenny to make the most of his talented centre backs and masking the lack of quality wingers in the squad.
However, the emergence of the Chiedozie Ogbene and now Mikey Johnston makes that latter point less of a concern. Those two could form a potent front three alongside Evan Ferguson in the right circumstances. A move to 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 would also ease the pressure on the Irish midfield, who have struggled to contain opposition teams at time in recent fixtures.
Even if the move away from three at the back is not a permanent one, the Gibraltar game was a timely reminder that other options are available.
Stephen Kenny has struggled tactically in Ireland's recent games, especially in Greece. That is something that he will have to amend moving forward if he is to regain some of the trust that has been lost on the back of the fixture in Athens.
None of this is to say that he is incapable of doing so.
Regardless of what some of his detractors might say, Kenny is an excellent coach who seems to have a remarkable bond with his players. He made long overdue changes in Irish football, ones that will set the team up for a bright future moving forward.
Now, he needs to prove that he is capable of helping this group make that next step. After putting his heart and soul into the job over the last three years, you would hope that he can overcome that obstacle in the months ahead.
SEE ALSO: Richard Dunne Was Baffled By Stephen Kenny's Formation To Play Gibraltar
