Stephen Kenny admits Ireland will have to ‘do something extraordinary’ to qualify for Euro 2024 - but has vowed to meet the challenge head on.
The Boys in Green were handed a nightmare group at today’s draw in Frankfurt after landing the Netherlands, France, Greece and Gibraltar.
Netherlands, France and Greece are all former European champions and Les Blues are the current World Cup holders.
UEFA will publish the fixtures this evening but Kenny said: “No doubt it’s a tough draw.
“I understand that people will not give us a chance, I get that, but we've got to back ourselves and believe in what we are doing.
“Nobody wanted France as a second seed, I think that is fair to say, and Greece are a good team.
“They won their [Nations League] group and have had some good recent results, beating Northern Ireland twice.
“They will be tough opponents for France and Holland as well, so I don’t mind getting a strong fourth seed because teams will take points off each other.
“But we’ve shown a capacity to get good results against Portugal, Serbia, Scotland and Belgium this year.
“You can see the improvement in the team and the capacity to score goals. We will look to continually improve.
“We just need to pick off big results over the year. We will have to do something extraordinary to finish in the top two and that’s our intention. We want to do that.”
But Kenny accepts that Ireland will have to address their inconsistency if they are to mount a serious challenge.
While some of the recent performances have been good, Ireland are struggling to back them up with meaningful results.
And that one step forward, two steps back approach will have to be ironed out if Ireland are to qualify automatically.
Kenny said: “I think we’re capable of big performances but we haven’t shown that we can do it consistently. That’s what we’re building towards, that’s what we have to show.
“We’re capable of being better than we have been. We have to do more than match performances we showed against Scotland, Serbia, Portugal and Belgium.
“We can see the team evolve but we’ll have to produce even better performances to beat France and Holland. That has to be our determination.
“All these World Cup qualifiers will be full houses. They are really getting behind this team.
“We only have eight games, so we have to pull off some big performances. And we are capable of that.”
Third place does not secure a playoff, but Ireland will be in the mix for one through their Nations League standing.
But it is a deeply complicated process that relies on the fortunes of a host of other nations and won’t become clear until the latter stages of qualifying in all the groups.
READ NEXT:
Max Verstappen wins second F1 title crown after dramatic Japanese GP win and more chaos
Ireland striker hopes for progress following shocking misconduct and abuse report
Ronan Finn says Shamrock Rovers are not 'downing tools' in Europe but stresses title race priority
Conor McGregor told to explain why he hasn't been drug tested in 12 months by UFC legend
Offaly teenager tipped for big future after winning F4 championship
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
