St. Patrick's Athletic have confirmed the appointment of former Republic of Ireland head coach Stephen Kenny as their new manager.
Kenny departed his role as Ireland boss last November after a dour 2023 saw the team miss out on a EURO 2024 play-off place and win just three games all year.
Ireland struggled for much of Kenny's reign, with an eight-game unbeaten run in late 2021 and early 2022 the sole period in which the team appeared to making strides during his tenure.
Despite the disappointing end result of his time in charge, Kenny remained a popular figure among many Irish fans, and was responsible for handing senior debuts to a remarkable 24 players during his three years as manager.
He has now been unveiled as the new man at the helm at Richmond Park, his sixth League of Ireland job.
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Stephen Kenny confirmed as new St. Patrick's Athletic boss
St. Patrick's Athletic announced the appointment of Stephen Kenny on Thursday morning.
23 February 2024; Former Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny and coach Stephen Rice before the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division match between St Patrick's Athletic and Bohemians at Richmond Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
The defending FAI Cup champions parted company with manager Jon Daly after a poor start to the League of Ireland season, which has them sat in seventh in the Premier Division table.
The first whispers of a potential move for Stephen Kenny came last week, and the 52-year-old was unveiled on Thursday.
St Patrick's Athletic are thrilled to announce the appointment of Stephen Kenny as First Team Manager.
The 52-year-old returns to League of Ireland management after five years working in international football, and has signed a contract at Richmond Park to take him to the end of… pic.twitter.com/s8weMQCs4w— St Patrick's Athletic FC (@stpatsfc) May 16, 2024
In their press release, St. Pats confirmed that Kenny had signed a five-year deal to take him to the end of the 2029 season.
Kenny himself also spoke of his excitement to get working at Richmond Park:
It's been a bit of a whirlwind, I'm looking forward to getting started, it's a new chapter in my life and a new chapter for the club, and I'll be giving it everything.
The reason I signed a longer contract is to build the club over a period of time and I'm looking forward to driving it forward.
My mother used to come to watch St Pat's, she's from Inchicore and lived in Ballyfermot, so there's a good connection there.
Kenny had previously been linked with a return to Bohemians, the club with whom he won a League of Ireland title with as manager in 2002-03.
The former Ireland boss arrives in Inchicore with some serious League of Ireland pedigree. He has also won four league titles and two FAI Cups with Dundalk as manager, another cup and the First Division title with Derry City, and he was the man to bring Dundalk to the Europa League group stages for the first time in 2016-17.
St. Patrick's Athletic is perhaps a fitting first challenge of the post-Ireland era for Kenny. The incumbent manager spent a spell of his youth career with Pats, before taking his first steps into coaching with the club's U21 side in 1997.
A major coup for St. Pats. Kenny could take charge of his first game against Derry City on Friday night.
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