Stephen Kenny’s U21 tenure starts against Luxembourg
Stephen Kenny’s competitive reign as Ireland U21 manager will begin and end with games against Luxembourg before he steps up to take over from Mick McCarthy as senior manager in 2020.
At that point, the Irish U21s will have completed nine of their 10 qualifying games for the 2021 finals, meaning Kenny will miss the final game, away to Group One top seeds Italy, in October 2020.
Sweden, Iceland and Armenia complete Ireland’s group, with Kenny’s first qualifying game in charge a home match against Luxembourg in March next year.
“There are a number of teams in our group with great pedigree,” said Kenny, after the draw, “so to test ourselves against these teams is going to be a great experience.
“With the two hosts qualifying automatically, there are only two play-off spots for qualification which in reality means we’ve got to finish top to qualify. For us to do that, we’ll have to achieve something extraordinary.
“It’s great to start the campaign in March at home and four home games next year for us which is exciting for the players. We won’t have much preparation time before the first game but that is the challenge.
“I need to go out and see all of the players across Ireland, England and Scotland to see which players are in-form and who could come into the squad for March. The work starts straight away.”
Tournament co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia have both been given a bye to the finals in 2021. The nine group winners qualify automatically while runners-up with the best records against the teams first, third, fourth and fifth in their group will go into a play-off to determine the last finals berth.
