End-of-season atmosphere marks the end of an era that never took off

They came to say farewell, the stalwart few. Farewell to James McClean. Farewell to Stephen Kenny.

Long gone were once harboured romantic notions of creating magical World Cup memories together under star-filled Qatari skies or sharing sunny Munich afternoons spontaneously, joyously, taking their shoes off in Europe for the boys in green.

The last of those erstwhile dreams had dulled somewhere between Yerevan and Athens. The spark faded. The wheels came off, the shoes stayed on. The relationship between Kenny and the Irish fans never managed to advance far beyond first base. Proof, if needed, that desperately wanting something to work isn’t enough on its own to retain the hearts and minds forever.

An attendance of just 26,517 eventually turned up at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night, but when the teams emerged from the tunnel to the thunder of Enter Sandman the stands were pitifully empty. An end of season atmosphere marking the end of an era.

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This was James McClean’s last game for Ireland, his 103rd appearance, and he received yet another trinket on the pitch before kick-off. Of late the Derry man has been involved in more presentations than some college lecturers.

A banner dedicated to him behind the South Stand carried the message: A fan who lived his dream.

“I have no regrets,” said McClean afterwards. “People said I’d be emotional and crying, but there’s no need to cry. I’ve had the time of my life.”

For Kenny, the gig of his life ended as it had started.

His first outing was a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria in Sofia in September 2020. And his reign was bookended here three years later with another 1-1 draw, this time against a very limited New Zealand side.

After the final whistle, the Ireland manager gathered his players and led them on a cursory lap of the pitch. The stadium was already emptying. When they reached the South Stand, Kenny walked behind the goal and applauded those still in place.

“I have spoken to the players about that,” when asked afterwards about his position. “It may well be my last match, I think that has been well documented. If it is then so be it, I have had the privilege of managing my country, it has been a huge privilege to see this group grow.”

It took a dozen attempts before Ireland won a game under Kenny. In 40 matches he picked up 11 wins – over Andorra, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Scotland, Armenia, Malta, Latvia, and Gibraltar twice.

A steadfast crew of the faithful turned out on Tuesday to mark what is almost certain to be his last match in charge, because many of those there had long viewed Kenny as one of their own. His appointment was broadly welcomed by the Irish football community.

Here was a son of the League of Ireland getting a shot to manage his country. The gig was never about topping up his pension, just like McClean, Kenny too was living out his dream. Fighting the good fight and pledging to do so with his team playing football. There would be no more leaning on the ropes, no more absorbing body blows in a boorish ploy of trying to catch an opponent with one swift uppercut. From a corner.

Problem was Ireland struggled to even find the ropes during much of Kenny’s reign, instead finding themselves on the canvas more often than not, occasionally looking up to see Luxembourg and Armenia scowling back. You never fully recover from those knockouts.

And yet it is true he had no good fortune along the way. The qualifier draws weren’t kind, injuries to key players didn’t help, and the revolving door of coaches made it difficult to hone a game plan and perfect a shape. “Nobody gets justice,” suggested Orson Welles once. “People only get good luck or bad luck.”

It was noticeable how many kids were scattered across the Aviva on Tuesday night. Kenny’s Kids were once billed as the future, and they very well might still be, but he will not be there to oversee the next stage of their development.

Still, it was one of those players given his international debut by Kenny who opened the scoring against the All Whites – Adam Idah made his international debut in Kenny’s first game at the helm.

Mikey ‘Jinky’ Johnston continued his ascent to the realm of fan favourite, the Celtic man’s trickery drawing oohs and aahs throughout the evening.

But to the very end, the same old failings of the last three years persisted. New Zealand’s goal – a strike from outside the box – was a replica of so many conceded under Kenny.

In the closing stages, the visitors – ranked 103rd in the world – looked the most likely to score. The Kenny era petered out as it had largely played out.

He will leave with Ireland sitting 58th in the world rankings. They were 34th when he took charge. This was the smallest attendance at an Ireland in the Aviva since 2019, also against New Zealand.

After the short lap of the pitch last night, the squad formed a guard of honour for McClean. Soon after it had dispersed, Kenny walked off to little fanfare.

When asked afterwards if any job could ever compare with managing Ireland, Kenny replied: “No, nothing could, ever.”

Over an hour after the game ended, outside the stadium some stragglers waited on the last dart home from Lansdowne Road.

It wasn’t the end of the world, just the end of the line.

And they had said their farewells.