Stephen Kenny’s reign as the Republic of Ireland manager reached a new low with a 1-0 home defeat to minnows Luxembourg.
The 49-year-old is yet to win any of his first 10 matches in charge since replacing Mick McCarthy last April and Ireland have now lost both their opening World Cup qualifying games.
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Gerson Rodrigues scored the game’s only goal five minutes from time to hand Luxembourg a shock victory.
After being beaten 3-2 by Serbia three days before the Luxembourg embarrassment, it means the Republic of Ireland sit bottom of World Cup qualifying Group A.
Under Kenny, results have been woeful and they have not won a competitive match since beating Gibraltar 2-0 in June 2019.
Luxembourg are the 98th ranked team in the world – below the likes of Curacao, Haiti, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Oman, Panama, Benin and Cabo Verde.
Despite Kenny fielding Premier League players such as Seamus Coleman, Matt Doherty, Dara O’Shea, Ciaran Clark, Robbie Brady, Enda Stevens and Callum Robinson, his men managed just three shots on target against Luxembourg.
The result is a huge blow to the Republic of Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for a first World Cup tournament since 2002.
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The Republic of Ireland under Stephen Kenny
- 1-1 vs Bulgaria
- 0-1 vs Finland
- 0-0 vs Slovakia
- 0-0 vs Wales
- 0-1 vs Finland
- 0-3 vs England
- 0-1 vs Wales
- 0-0 vs Bulgaria
- 2-3 vs Serbia
- 0-1 vs Luxembourg
To make matters worse for Ireland, they have only managed to score THREE goals under Kenny’s stewardship.
Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman admitted the defeat was ’embarrassing’.
He said: “It’s a horrible night, an embarrassing night as international footballers. We didn’t deserve anything from the game, so I think that says it all, really.
“It looked like we didn’t have belief in ourselves. I thought against Serbia, we did well at times, but tonight I don’t think as individuals we demanded the ball enough and looked to break them down as quickly as we could, and I think we got what we deserved, which was nothing.
“It’s a very embarrassing night for us as international players.”
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