Kenny livid with refereeing decision

Stephen Kenny’s main point of concern after Tuesday night’s EA Sports Cup game was referee Declan Hanney’s decision not to award a penalty when Mark Farren was clearly brought down by Rover’s keeper Alan Mannus.

“I’m livid”, said Kenny having emerged from a brief meeting with the match officials. “Rovers overall were probably better than us, but they’d a strong eleven out and we had a lot of young players coming in.

"But at the same time we gave them a right fright, kept going till the end, we scored a goal and the game hinged on a decision that was so wrong, you know. We should have had two penalties for it, it was such a bad decision. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing."

On the performance of his players he was more upbeat. He described Barry Molloy as “really excellent” and had praise too for some of his more experienced substitutes.

“David McDaid and Patrick McEleney, when they came on they were really great for us and injected creativity, some energy and created chances. But, we just didn’t defend too well for the goals and we got punished for that.”

And referring to the younger members of his team he said, “It was a bit alien to one or two players coming in, but everyone tried their best and everyone gave 100% and they kept going till the end. It was good in that regard and I can’t praise the players highly enough.”