Stephen Kenny hails 'brilliant' Dundalk Europa League qualification

Macdara Ferris reports from FAI HQ

Four years ago it was a Stephen Kenny Dundalk side that made it through to the group stages of the Europa League and that qualification was the springboard for him to go on from managing in the League of Ireland to become the Republic of Ireland international manager.

In the week that Kenny began to gather his troops for the EURO2020 play-off against Slovakia – including League of Ireland player Jack Byrne - his former club qualified once again for group stages of the Europa League.

“It is great news really,” said Kenny when asked by extratime.com for his reaction to Dundalk’s European success. “I’m thrilled for the players. They’ve had a tough season because of COVID, with games behind closed doors, matches cancelled and the league being shortened with a very small number of games. 

“That has affected them and so many of them are out of contract and the uncertainty around that. For them to get to the group stages is brilliant. That is the ambition of the club and that has been important for their seeding over the last number of years. 

“The players have done fantastically well to get through and they’ve a great group to play in and I wish them well.”

Shamrock Rovers had been eliminated from the Europa League in the second qualifying round by AC Milan with Hoops midfielder Jack Byrne bringing his excellent SSE Airtricity League form in that game which was something that Kenny noted. 

The Rovers player, who missed out on the September internationals, has now earned himself a chance to add to the two international caps he won during Mick McCarthy’s tenure in charge in the Ireland dugout.

Kenny has brought him in for his alternative attributes which add to the options for the Boys in Green. 

“Jack Byrne has different qualities from other players. He offers an alternative. He is quite creative, playing high in midfield and has a great range of passing. He has been playing well for a while. He is an addition to the squad.



“He is tremendous at protecting the ball. He played very well (against Milan) and he has backed that up with a couple of good performance in recent weeks.”

Byrne was substituted in Rovers’ 4-0 win over Cork City on Friday night but Kenny confirmed on Sunday that the player is not an injury concern ahead of Thursday’s play-off.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile