The Impact of Stephen Kenny's Reign on Ireland's World Cup Qualifying Campaign

A football team is only ever as good as its manager. Think of Gareth Southgate for England or Luis de la Fuente for Spain. The reasons these teams have seen success is all to do with the values these managers have instilled, the team atmosphere, the squad goals. Apart from fitness and player pools, these are the common traits of teams that go on to experience success.

This, in many ways, could be why Ireland have not been performing in the way they should have been in recent years. For those unaware, Ireland have been losing out on some of the biggest football tournaments, finishing third in their group during World Cup qualifiers and similarly being unable to break into the Euros 2024 tournament. For Irish football fans, this has been both a good thing and a bad thing.

The Role of Sports Betting in National Team Matches

You might be asking, how can a national team performing badly ever be a good thing? And if you’re asking that, the chances are you’re not one of the 60% of sports bettors in the country.

For sports betting, unpredictability in a national team can actually be a positive, with opportunities for value bets – wagers where the odds offered are higher than the actual probability of the outcome – and higher potential payouts – which is a big plus for risk-takers who thrive on the uncertainty.

The reason certain betting markets have grown exponentially in the last few years – the Dolfwin sports betting website continues to gain heavy Irish traffic due to its wide range of betting options tailored towards this unpredictability – is because bettors are taking advantage of the chaos.

But that’s not to say it’s been a pleasant experience for everyone. While even a badly performing Irish team can benefit sports bettors, it’s never a nice thing to see the national team fail. As we mentioned before, however, the root of these failures is easily identifiable.

The Role of Stephen Kenny

Late last year, the Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny lost his job within hours of drawing 1-1 with New Zealand. This came after a slurry of poor results, including the hugely disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign.

To make something clear, we don’t think Stephen Kenny is a bad manager. When you look at his record, Kenny actually has a number of strong results behind him at club level, particularly with Dundalk FC, where he achieved multiple league titles and a historic run in European competitions.

Kenny’s ability to develop young talent and implement a progressive style of play is commendable. However, the transition to international football is not always easy, and sometimes even the best club managers can lose their footing.

Despite his efforts to modernise the team’s approach, Kenny’s reign was hit by key player injuries and poor performances across the board – and before you say that Kenny isn’t responsible for injuries, it’s important to note that a great portion of these injuries happened during training, proving a lack of due care and balance in achieving match fitness.

Under Kenny’s management, there was also a distinct lack of goals, with Ireland scoring only eleven in their qualifying group, and a clear lack of ability to switch from attack to defence, which is why Ireland not only suffered defeats, but heavy defeats throughout the 2021 and 2022 season.

As we mentioned before, for the sports betting market, performances like this can be turned into a positive. But it goes without saying everyone will be hoping the new manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, will be turning around Ireland’s fortunes in the years to come. We’re all just going to have to wait and see.