“Well guess what, the future is now, it’s here.”
Stephen Kenny’s own words have come back to haunt him after the Republic of Ireland lost 2-0 to France in a Euro 2024 qualification match.
Following this defeat, Ireland will now play Holland at home in a must-win game, and given their recent performances and injuries to the likes of Evan Ferguson, a victory seems unlikely.
This would mean that all hope is lost in terms of qualifying for a major tournament, and the Irish will have to wait until the 2026 World Cup before they can dream of going to an international competition again.
Damien Delaney pointed out on Virgin Media that Kenny’s own comments have come back to bite him.
“In the middle of the last campaign, Stephen Kenny moved the goalposts. He said it was all about Germany 2024.
“I remember in studio when we heard that, I think Brian [Kerr] was with me, and we all kind of went ‘did we miss that memo, when did that come about?’
“It was all future, future, future. Well guess what, the future is now, it’s here and we haven’t done well.
“We have to beat the Dutch on Sunday, we have to. I know that might sound ludicrous, but the Greece result put us in that position.
“Stephen said in his post-match interview that there’s a a fair chance we will all be level on six points if we beat the Dutch. Well Greece are playing Gibraltar, so there is every chance they are going to be on nine and we will have played a game more than the Dutch as well.
“Again, the framing of our situation is not accurate. We haven’t done well. We now have to beat the Greeks when they come to Dublin to salvage something out of it.
“Otherwise, we will have to go to Gibraltar and get a result to not finish bottom. That’s what we’re looking at four years into the job now. It’s not good enough.
“I remarked that after the last set of games, it’s not good enough. We haven’t been good enough as a whole, not just tonight. I’m not castigating him for tonight, but as a whole.”
Related links:
- Martin O’Neill questions Stephen Kenny narrative ahead of crunch games
- RTE panel ask the right question after Ireland lose to France
- France vs Ireland: Player ratings and live updates from Euro 2024 qualifier
