Stephen Kenny hit back at Damien Delaney last night by insisting his Ireland team is syncing - not sinking.
Delaney, the ex-Irish international turned pundit, slammed the manager in the wake of Saturday’s defeat in Scotland.
After the Hampden Park loss, he had said: “How long do you keep saying ‘we’re going somewhere'. We're in quicksand, we’re sinking.
READ MORE: Damien Delaney thinks Stephen Kenny is running out of excuses after Scotland defeat
“We could be in C in the next Nations League. Our seeding is dropping so it’s getting harder and harder for us.”
Ireland, who have won just six times in Kenny's 27 games, will be relegated to that third tier tonight if they lose to Armenia for the second time in three months.
The Boys in Green are hot favourites and Kenny isn’t contemplating that, but accepts he has to win more games while also claiming to be unaware of Delaney's barbed comments.
The Ireland boss said: “I’m certainly not getting into a debate now on where we are overall.
“This game is very important for us. We want to beat Armenia. This is a press conference for that.
“People are excited about (the team) but we want to win more games and there’s no more doubt about that.”
Delaney questioned if Ireland were going forward under Kenny and when that was put to him yesterday, the manager said: “There was a team at the end of its cycle.
“It needed to be reinvigorated. We had talented young players coming through so the timing was good.
“These players have come through and they’ve got a lot of experience and played some terrific stuff consistently.
“Obviously we’ve (had) a performance like the one in Armenia which was disappointing. But you can see the improvement in the team.”
Kenny is setting his sights on Euro 2024 and will travel to Germany for the qualifying draw on October 9.
Last night, he added: “You can see the way the team is playing, that it’s really evolving, that it’s exciting and attacking.
“With our rate of improvement, the potential that exists, the bond we have that’s growing and the connection with the support, we’re going to get better.
“Our absolute objective is to qualify for the top two (in the Euro 2024 campaign). We'll see what the draw brings and take it from there.”
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