STEPHEN KENNY breathed a sigh of relief as Ireland dodged relegation to Nations League Group C but admitted: “It’s nothing to celebrate.”
Ireland’s goal drought extended to 11 hours but the scoreless draw was enough to stay ahead of Bulgaria, although Kenny’s side will be in Pot Three for the World Cup draw on December 6.
Robbie Brady went closest to breaking that miserable run, rattling the crossbar midway through the second half.
And Kenny – who was without 14 of his original squad – said: “It’s very important we weren’t relegated but it’s not something to celebrate.
“We need to win games, I’m under no illusions about that.
“It’s been very difficult. The team that wasn’t available was stronger than the one that played. That’s not been disparaging but we’ve just so many frontline players not available.
TERRIFIC ATTITUDE
“Having said that, some have really put themselves in contention to challenge for places and we’re going to need that because we could have injuries in March too.
“What the players have had to endure over the last couple of months, we’ve been dealing with a Covid-19 issue nearly every day and it’s very unsettling for them and their families.
“We’ve had meetings through the night regularly dealing with these issues.
“We lost a player to bereavement, unfortunately James McCarthy’s father passed away, John Egan got concussion against England and Adam Idah suffered a knee injury against Wales.
“Believe it or not, despite what you might think because of all they have had to deal with, the players’ attitude has been terrific and their morale will be really high coming in in March. When we see the draw we can look forward to those games.”
On the game, Kenny said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t win. We didn’t play well in the first half, we were not very cohesive and our passing was erratic.
“We never really got our wingers into the game until Daryl Horgan’s terrific bit of skill and chip to James Collins at the far post.
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“But we played really well in the second half for periods. Robbie had a brilliant effort and Ronan Curtis and James again had chances and all the substitutes that came on contributed.
“We had three players making their first competitive start – Ronan, Ryan Manning and Jason Knight who really shone I felt.
“We will have players now challenging for places which we are going to need if it’s going to be three World Cup qualifiers in an international window.”