Stephen Kenny (football)

Stephen Kenny (born 30 October 1971) is an Irish football manager and former player who is currently manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team. He has formerly managed Longford Town, Bohemians, Derry City, Dunfermline Athletic, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk and the Republic of Ireland U21 He is one of Ireland's most successful domestic league managers, having won eight trophies with Dundalk.

Early life

Kenny grew up in Tallaght and lived there for the first 18 years of his life. He attended Our Lady of Loreto Boys National School and Old Bawn Community School. Kenny ran a successful meat-production business in the late 1990s before moving into football management full-time.

Playing career

During his playing career, Kenny spent two years at Belvedere as a schoolboy before signing for St Patrick's Athletic. Without making an appearance he then transferred to Home Farm, playing just four games in the League of Ireland First Division making his League of Ireland debut on 13 March 1994.

Coaching career

St Patrick's Athletic Under-21

Kenny began his coaching career with St Patrick's Athletic when he took charge of the Dublin side's Under 21 side in the Athletic Union League. His first year was successful as St. Pats won the league.

Longford Town

In the summer of 1998, Kenny became the youngest manager in National League history when he took over Longford Town at the age of 26. He led Longford to huge success during his three-year tenure as they won promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division, and reached the 2001 FAI Cup Final, subsequently, qualifying for the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

Bohemians

In December 2001, Kenny left the midlands club and became manager of Bohemians. Taking over at Dalymount Park. Bohemians were then the champions of the Eircom League, having won the Double the previous season. However, the club was in something of a crisis, having parted ways with their league-winning manager, Roddy Collins, in the summer, his successor Pete Mahon struggling after an excellent start to the season. Kenny's impact at Bohemians was immediate, as the side steadily moved away from the lower end of the league table and reached that year's FAI Cup final. However, the season was to end in bitter disappointment, as Bohemians were beaten 2–1 by Dundalk FC, a club which had been relegated from the top flight the previous week. This was Kenny's second FAI Cup final defeat in as many seasons. In the close season Kenny made some changes to the first team squad, and the 2002/2003 season saw Bohemians win the Premier Division title, leading from start to finish. The following season they finished runners-up to Shelbourne FC. In the 2004 season Bohemians began poorly and after 3 months found themselves in 3rd place. Kenny's job was insecure and he was sacked on 27 July 2004, following Bohemians' 3–1 home defeat in the UEFA Cup to Estonian side FC Levadia Tallinn. His league record at Bohemians was 49 wins in 96 games.

Derry City (first spell)

After just three weeks out of the game, Kenny returned to management at Derry City following the sacking of Gavin Dykes, and took over from caretaker manager, Peter Hutton. His time at the club has been hugely successful and he has been credited for turning a team, battling against relegation in the 2004 season, into one which challenged for the Premier Division title in 2005, finishing runners-up.

He also guided Derry City to their first advancement in European competition in over 40 years (the last seeing Lyn Oslo being knocked out) Derry qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing runners-up in the Premier Division in the 2005 season. On 13 July 2006, Derry overcame two-time winners IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round 2–0 on aggregate. A 79th-minute header from Sean Hargan was enough to give Derry a shock win in the first leg, and Stephen O'Flynn ensured a 1–0 home victory from the penalty spot. Manager Stephen Kenny was delighted with the win stating:
This marked Derry City's first progression in European football since defeating Lyn Oslo more than 40 years ago.

Derry City were subsequently drawn against Scottish second-level side Gretna in the second qualifying round. On 10 August 2006, Derry claimed a 5–1 away win to gain a considerable advantage going into the home leg. This result is the largest away winning margin for a League of Ireland team in Europe. Following a 2–2 home draw with Gretna F.C. in the second leg and a 7–3 win on aggregate, Derry advanced to the UEFA Cup First round. In the draw, held on 25 August 2006, Derry City were handed a tough tie against Paris Saint-Germain FC. The first leg was played at home at Brandywell Stadium on the evening of 14 September 2006 and ended in a hard-fought 0–0 draw, a magnificent result for the battling Derry side. The second leg was played at Parc des Princes on 28 September. Paris St. Germain won the second leg 2–0 with goals from Pauleta and Edouard Cisse.

He remained in charge of Derry City until 17 November 2006 for their final league game before moving to Dunfermline Athletic. Derry finished second in the league behind Shelbourne, who had a stronger goal difference. Kenny then made a remarkable return to Derry City to manage the club for the FAI Cup final win against St. Patrick's Athletic.

Kenny's total managerial record at Derry included 112 games managed, 65 games won, 29 games drawn, 18 games lost, 170 goals for, 80 goals against and 57 clean sheets. His win percentage was 58%. During his time in charge, a total of 32 players represented the club, and 7 players that he managed went on to represent their country at international level.

Dunfermline Athletic

Kenny was confirmed as the new Dunfermline Athletic manager on 10 November 2006 and took up his position on 18 November 2006 where he was to watch Dunfermline's game against Dundee United from the stand
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Following his departure from the League of Ireland, his contributions during the 2006 season were still recognised by eircom / Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) who nominated the former Derry manager for their 'Personality of the Year' award on 13 December 2006.

Kenny won his first game as Dunfermline manager 9 games into his Pars career – a 3–2 Scottish Cup