Stephen Kenny: 'It's terrific to be going into the game with supporters. The sense of passion around the stadium is so important to the players – they feed off it.'

We have seen the stepping stones for Irish football emerging from the pandemic with League of Ireland crowds returning in small numbers this week while the Republic of Ireland will play in front of spectators in Hungary on Tuesday evening.

Stephen Kenny is hoping that the four goals in Andorra last week is a stepping stone to better things for the Boys in Green now that the first win in his managerial era has finally been secured - after a dozen attempts.

“It is terrific to be going into the game with supporters,” said Kenny on the eve of the friendly against Hungary. “They are lifeblood of the game, the sense of passion around the stadium is so important to the players – they feed off it. There is that connection and the game is built on that. It is great to have that back. We are thrilled.”

The ‘boss-man’ was also thrilled with the goals scored in the principality and in particular the brace for Troy Parrott who has had a difficult season at club level from a goalscoring perspective.

“The positives from the win in Andorra is that three players scored their first goals for Ireland with Troy getting two really well taken goals, Daryl Horgan scoring and Jason Knight getting his first goal. Very positive experiences for them all.

“For Troy Parrott there was a lot of speculation that he hadn’t merited or done enough to be in the squad because he’s not maybe had the season he would have liked to have, although he did have a lot of football throughout the season and played in different positions.”

“There was a possibility of leaving him with the Under-21s in the tournament in Spain, but I do think our younger players coming through — even though they still have a lot to prove, there’s no doubt — I think in terms of our attacking players, they are the players with the greatest potential and the players that can help us really improve as a team and give us a cutting edge in our play.

“Sometimes when young players are having a difficult time, to have the capacity to stand up and score two goals in an international game can really help your confidence. I am hoping that will really remind him of his talent and remind him that he is a quality player and he is capable of scoring goals. It’s something that we have to maximise his talent.

"That’s why our job is to nurture the talent and maximise it and get players to reach their potential and he’s one we want to see do that.”

Ireland are seeking back-to-back wins for the first time since the last days of the John Delaney era at the FAI when 1-0 victories were secured in March 2019 against Gibraltar and Georgia but Tuesday’s test against a Hungarian side off to the Euros is a step up from playing Andorra.

“Hungary rested eight players in the game in midweek [against Cyprus] and they will be at full strength. That is a good test for all our players. I'm expecting a tough match against the Hungarians.”

There is of course no place for the Ireland at the tournament having lost a play-off on penalties to Slovakia and the planned matches in the Aviva lost due to COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland.

Kenny will be watching the tournament with interest – particularly Hungary’s group which contains Ireland’s next opponents in the World Cup qualifiers Portugal – and the Republic of Ireland manager confirmed to extratime.com that he is planning to travel to the tournament subject to approval.

“It would have been amazing if we had got there. To lose on penalties was the cruellest of fates but we have to move on and look forward. We are building a team. Everyone is hurt to not be a part of it. There is loads of things I can get from watching the Euros and there is constantly changing trends in international football.” 

Reflecting on the journey over the last year as Ireland manager, Kenny was honest in his assessment that he “would have wanted to do better than I have overall. 

“There’s no doubt. I wouldn’t try to paint a different picture. I think there’s a clear vision of the team we want to create. I want the team to have a clear identity. We have capped 13 players who have made their senior competitive international debut in that period.

"That’s quite a radical shift and we’re creating a stronger squad going forward for the three-game windows — a team that the supporters can identify with.

“Overall, we’re looking for a good performance in Hungary. We want to finish the week strongly and take that into the September window because we have nine points to play for — tough matches against Portugal, Azerbaijan and Serbia.

"We want to have a strong September and we want this week to help us to do that and give us the platform to do that.”

John Egan on captaining Ireland: ‘It is the pinnacle really’ https://t.co/5xeRJw8ctopic.twitter.com/8XYgp6YHu8

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) June 7, 2021