Kenny’s men licking their wounds after tough start to Nations League
STEPHEN Kenny will be hoping his Republic of Ireland team can get their UEFA Nations League campaign back on the rails when they welcome Scotland to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Tallaght man’s charges have found themselves empty-handed after their opening two games in the competition this term and, really, nothing short of victory will be required this weekend if they are to preserve any dwindling hopes of challenging for top spot.
Ireland, last weekend, returned home from Yerevan licking their wounds following a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Armenia, Eduard Spertsyan having served up the hammer blow on that occasion by way of a stunning 74th minute effort.
And the pain of that early setback was exacerbated last night when they again emerged on the wrong end of a carbon-copy result against a Ukrainian outfit that had been forced to make a number of changes in order to rest players who had figured in their failed bid for World Cup qualification against Wales the previous Sunday.
Viktor Tsigankov’s teasing free kick in from the right deceived everyone in the Ireland rearguard, including goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher as it bounced to the net to edge the visitors in front with the second half just three minutes old.
And, try as they might, Ireland were unable to serve up a response despite Shane Duffy seeing has header tipped on to the crossbar by Ukraine custodian, Andriy Lunin, before Michael Obafemi’s effort, soon after, travel just wide and Jason Knight put too much air under his snapshot when Duffy’s acrobatic attempt had been blocked into his path.
“That’s two games that hung in the balance. We didn’t deserve to lose in Armenia and tonight we started really well and finished strong” said Kenny in the wake of his side’s loss to Ukraine.
“The players left everything out there. They just came out the wrong side of a very narrow defeat.”
With nothing to show for their opening two outings, Ireland are now rooted to the bottom of Group One in League B, making three points on Saturday all the more imperative.
And while it may be argued that the performances of the team were worthy of more on both counts, results will certainly be sought by the Ireland faithful who have now seen their wait for a Nations League win extended to 12 games, all but four of them, coming under Kenny’s watch.
Still his squad has produced pockets of very impressive play in this campaign, particularly in the closing 15 minutes of last night’s tie.
But Kenny will not want to see his players again chasing the match against a Scottish outfit who will have their tails up following their 2-0 dismissal of Armenia yesterday.
