The dark clouds finally lifted and the sun shone on Stephen Kenny and his Ireland side at Lansdowne Road on Monday night as they comfortably beat Gibraltar in their Euro 2024 qualifier.
It's been a tough few weeks for the Ireland manager as the way too long, six-week build-up for the game in Greece covered every aspect of his three-year tenure, with so many column inches to fill as his side started in Bristol and then went on the road to Turkey for a nine-day warm-weather camp before their Athens arrival.
By the time kick-off arrived at the OPAP Arena, expectation for an era-defining performance was possibly at an all-time high, but 15 minutes into the game, it was clear that it was not going to be a good night for the Boys in Green in the Greek capital.
A 2-1 defeat away from home might not look too bad on paper, but it was such a let down, with very few, if any, positives to be taken from it, while the few thousand fans who made the long traipse through Europe got very little bang for their buck, not to mention the chaos trying to enter the stadium and the negotiation of a two-hour thunder and lightning storm ahead of kick-off - a spontaneous half-time rendition of Zombie via the stadium tannoy was about as good as it got in the away end.
There were no excuses from Kenny after the game, acknowledging that Greece were the better side on the night, which left a "mountain to climb" after the game, heading into the rest of the campaign.
The pre-Gibraltar press conference on Sunday revisited old ground, however, and the questions regarding his future were raised once again.
Asked did he think he would be in charge for the remainder of the campaign, Kenny responded, "definitely", while also adding later that he had no conversations in relation to his job, nor had sought no assurances regarding his future.
But then it appeared that the manager was pushed a little too far when his results were described as "shambolic" by a member of the media.
Kenny found it disrespectful and let the journalist know in no uncertain terms what he thought of his attitude throughout his tenure.
The 90-minute interlude for a game of ball at the Aviva Stadium brought the manager back to his happy place, as he appeared to thoroughly enjoy the 3-0 victory, even taking positives from a first half that lacked creativity yet provided the required intensity to set up the victory in the second half.
It did take a change of personnel and formation to kick his team into gear after the break as Mikey Johnston came on to add a bit of that old Aiden McGeady-esque unpredictability and flair, which set the wheels in motion towards the first victory of the campaign.
And when Kenny finally arrived for the press conference, a full hour after the final whistle had sounded, he was brimming with confidence and talking the talk regarding the quest for qualification with two "tough yet exciting" games against France and the Netherlands in September.
A media huddle for the written press would follow, which generally allows the manager to talk a bit more informally and with added substance in relation to the match and beyond towards the remainder of the campaign.
And so it started, as there was talk of the upcoming French match, which allowed Kenny to talk about the positive performance against the World Cup finalists, as well as other excellent outings during his tenure.
"They are tough, really tough, games. Going to France, it does not get any harder but we have shown a capacity, we played exceptionally well against France here," said Kenny. "Obviously, Mike Maignan made a world-class save and that was difference between us getting a point.
"But I think we’ve shown the capacity, we drew with Portugal here and they were one of the top teams in Europe at that stage. We played really well against them home and away, so we’ve got to go and get ourselves ready, go to Paris and the Dutch come here, but we will have tremendous support behind the team."
The conversation shifted to Seamus Coleman and whether the captain would be back for those vital games to bring his experience and expertise into the double-header.
But then, the mood changed, as the manager clearly had something to get off his chest, and he asked for some space. Kenny clearly wanted to put across his side of the long-running conversation regarding his suitability for the job, so here are his words in full.
"Sorry can you all just step back," said the manager.
"The reality is this: this is the way I view it, right? And I don’t mind saying this, right? I am - I’ve never been one to speak about myself like this, in this vein – but I started as a young manager, successful. I failed and then I failed better. I went on again, had setbacks and built a resilience and a determination.
"I have been in 16 cups finals. I was in eight FAI Cup finals. I have been in two Scottish Cup finals. I won six league cups. I won more trophies than anyone in modern history. I won five league titles. 46 Champions League and Europa League games; I beat Maccabi Tel Aviv, BATE Borisov, Gotenburg home and away, Hajduk Split and others, drew with Paris Saint-Germain , drew with Legia Warsaw.
"That’s why I got the job because I am the most successful Irish manager at this time.
"I went on from that, managed the U21 team, got good experience, took the radical approach of taking all these 17-year-olds and putting them in the U21 team, which never happened before. We had an exciting time and were leading the group and might have qualified.
"Obviously, because of Covid, Mick McCarthy is a good manager, a great man, obviously Covid interrupted the succession plan, and I had the play-off and the subsequent Covid games which were a bit of a farce because we had nine or 10 missing out of each camp. We lost the play-off on penalties. It’s been said I’ve been three years in the job.
"Realistically, I have been two years building this team, since March when we lost here [against Luxembourg], and in the opening game in Serbia. All of those players have come in over the last two years. We’ve given 18 players their debut. 18 players their debut through our own system. We’d nine years with nothing through, nothing, we brought 18 players through from the system. We finished third in the group which was probably parity. Obviously, there was a bit of pain, a bad defeat against Luxembourg and so forth.
"This is the campaign that I’ve built for. Obviously we had a right setback with the game against Greece. That was an important part of the plan, to beat Greece, to try to do that because we got sort of a group of death. But I think, you know, I’m very strong and very resilient and I don’t really care. I don’t need to listen to anyone’s opinions to know what I want and what I am.
"I’ve taken on a lot and it’s a small community in Ireland and people are upset over a variety of things but all of the decisions I made with the international team were with the best interests of Irish football. I’ve made brave decisions in the best interests of Irish football, OK? And I’ve made good decisions.
"I have a brilliant backroom staff. Keith Andrews is an outstanding coach, outstanding; John O’Shea has been a brilliant addition; Dean Kiely, these are top-level people; Stephen Rice has graduated and doing a great job, and all of the backroom team. So we will get better, we want to still qualify from this group. I’ll see out until the end of the campaign. I don’t know, after that, it’s other people’s decision. The objective was to qualify from this campaign, that is the objective, I’m not trying to hide from that. I’m not trying to build forever. We’ve been building a team over the past two years to try and qualify here.
"I think we’ve created a very, very vibrant coaching environment. We’ve completely transformed the way the team plays – not in every game – but it’s now assumed that you play that way, in terms of building and playing the way we have.
"We’ve scored a lot of goals, but conceded some that we shouldn’t have. We lost games 2-1 on the margins. I accept criticism for that. We need to win more games. We need to win more games and I know that. That’s how I feel."
It’s been a tough week for Kenny, but nothing compared to previous days in the job, most notably during Covid times, as the manager believes that he is has full confidence in the way that he is currently carrying out his role with the national team.
"No, no, actually, no, the first few months, the whole Covid period, dealing with that, was really, really tough," said Kenny, when asked was this the toughest week of his tenure.
"I can’t tell you how tough that was. Certainly that [this weekend] hasn’t been the toughest period, I know what I’m doing.
"The players are really talented, a progressive, young group, a lot of whom have come through together. There are some great senior pros, not all of them available in this camp, we’ve a couple of injuries but we’ve to get ready, we’ve tough games in September, France is as tough as it gets, in Paris, but we’ve got to get ready, prepare and try and win.
"I wouldn’t have got where I got, into this job, if I didn’t believe you can achieve extraordinary things. The reason I took clubs from nothing, took them through division and into Europa League, because I managed in the group stage of the Europa League, and the reason I done that was because I believe you can achieve extraordinary things. That’s what I believe."
Of the assembled journalists, many had been on this journey, witnessing the highs and lows of Kenny’s managerial career over the past 20 years, so there was an element of preaching to the converted with the solemn soliloquy.
So while there has been criticism about the media’s portrayal of the team and the manager, most recently from captain-for-the-day, James McClean, who said "ideally, we'd love the media on our side", the manager was now using the medium to get his message out to the nation, and perhaps aimed at a range of critics who may not appreciate, in his eyes, the unselfish work that has been done for the benefit of Irish football, as a whole, and not just for the senior side.
To finish, the Kenny was asked why he was making the declaration at this juncture, and asked "why have you reminded us of your CV"?
"Because it just felt right."
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