IRELAND'S CONOR HOURIHANE believes that there are exciting times ahead for Ireland under Stephen Kenny after an initial lumpy period at the start of his Ireland tenure.
Ireland under Kenny scored 10 goals in three games at the back end of the last qualifying campaign and fought hard against the two best teams in the group Serbia and Portugal.
Because of Ireland's mini-resurgence under Kenny, the FAI decided to hand the 50-year-old a new deal that will allow him to continue until after the Nations League and Euro 2024 campaigns.
Dublin , Ireland - 12 October 2021; Conor Hourihane of Republic of Ireland during the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Qatar at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)Hourihane believes that the only way is up under Kenny.
The Aston Villa loanee said ``''It’s great for him and well deserved.
In the last couple of camps we feel like we are turning a corner, playing some good stuff and getting some good results. It’s an exciting time.
“The manager had a really tough time when he first took over with Covid cases and pull-outs and it got to a ridiculous stage at one stage for a country like ourselves.
“We haven’t got the luxury of loads and loads of players, so when you have four or five drop-outs it affects the squad and we had countless amounts of Covids there at one stage.
“Hopefully we have seen the back of that and hopefully we can kick on now with the positive results we have had in the last couple of camps with Covid behind us, and on to exciting times.”
Ireland now face Belgium on Saturday, the 26th of March at the Aviva Stadium without Stephen Kenny's number two Anthony Barry.
Barry left Ireland to join Roberto Martinez's side last month and was replaced by QPR's John Eustace this week.
The Cork native gave his take on Barry's departure and said the team will ultimately be looking forward despite Barry lining up in the opposite dug-out on Saturday
🇮🇪 @ConorHourihane and @Alan__Browne up speaking to the media now. #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/EVYx0oacXK
— Irish Football Fan TV (@irishfantv) March 21, 2022
“It’s no secret that Anthony was fantastic. When he first came in, he was a breath of fresh air", Hourihane said:
"He had great ideas and the way he coached was great."
“He was at Chelsea and you’re not a bad coach if you’re at a top club like Chelsea. They’ve won a few trophies and he’s been heavily involved.
“He was very impressive in his time here, put his stamp on the group and was brilliant. He’s gone to Belgium and we have to move on.
Hopefully John coming in can give us a few different ideas, along with Keith [Andrews], who is brilliant.
Thanks to Anthony for everything he did, but it’s a new chapter now. We’ll try to move forward.”
Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois or Eden Hazard will not play in the Aviva centenary game because Martinez has only selected players with fewer than 50 senior caps, for the game.
The games starts at 17.00 on Saturday
