STEPHEN KENNY believes his team are on the way to changing perceptions.
Kenny was appointed Ireland manager 18 months ago and declared on the eve of his first game in charge that one of his motivations was to change how Irish football is viewed worldwide.
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Results started poorly but have picked up during his reign with crowds — both at the Aviva Stadium and away from home — supportive of the manager.
Kenny revealed he will talk to the FAI in the next few weeks about his future, with the expectation that he will be offered a new deal for the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
And the gaffer, 50, is sure his team is on the right track as, unprompted, he outlined where his side are going when speaking on stage at Friday’s PFA Ireland awards.
He declared: “One of the things we’re inspired about is the fact the crowds for the international games have been amazing.
“We’d a season without crowds so to see the Aviva selling out quickly for the likes of Azerbaijan and a friendly against Qatar, it was only a half stadium.
“To see the clamour for Portugal tickets and to see the connection with the players. We want the players to feel the affection of the support and really represent Ireland.
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“It is a new Ireland, a new team, a multicultural team that represents all strands of society. It’s evolutionary in its style.
“One of our objectives was we wanted schoolboy teams to look at the senior team and want to play like them, that they want be like that.
“That’s something we haven’t achieved yet but we have an aspiration to achieve. We’re on the way to that and have scored 20 goals since March having not scored for a long time.
“We can see the team has improved, the 18 players that we’ve brought through, players from League of Ireland like Chiedozie Ogbene and Jamie McGrath.
“We’ve seen Gavin Bazunu come from Shamrock Rovers and right through the team players who came from the league such as Séamus Coleman and James McClean.
“Football in Ireland is the biggest sport. Unlike other sports, it relates to every strand of society. That’s what you get with football.
LEAGUE OF IRELAND
“It can be powerful and I feel in the future collectively football in Ireland will get stronger.”
He insisted that the League of Ireland has to be a cornerstone of that too.
Kenny added: “We want the league to continue to develop. It will, 37,000 last week at the FAI Cup final was a great sign, a lot of great people are getting involved behind the scenes at clubs.
“The value to the community throughout Ireland is huge. I would be optimistic.”
