Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny spoke of his happiness after watching his team pick up a much-needed 3-0 win against Azerbaijan on Saturday evening.
The Ireland manager has insisted that he pays no attention to any negative scrutiny surrounding his tenure and believes the team is getting better with every match.
"I don't care about that," he replied when asked by RTÉ if Saturday's result helped to ease some of the "noise" surrounding his tenure.
"I know we're creating a team here, a very exciting team - we've blooded so many players and it's not all going to happen straight away, [but] you can see the potential and we'll get better I feel.
"I think we've had a lot of good performances in the group, you know, so we needed to win that of course and we did. We're pleased to win it and we want to go again against Qatar mid-week."
Stephen Kenny also pointed out the rarity of such a convincing win on the road for Ireland and credited his players with delivering a match-winning performance.
"It's not often Ireland come away from home in a qualifier and win 3-0, so, it is brilliant to do that and the players deserve a lot of credit."
“It was important to win tonight” - Manager Stephen Kenny on a "brilliant” away win against Azerbaijan #AZEIRL #WorldCup2022 #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/fW6AuNT8Jc
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 9, 2021
Furthermore, player of the match Callum Robinson shared his joy after playing a central role in Ireland's 3-0 defeat of Azerbaijan.
"Happy first of all to get the win," he said in conversation with RTÉ post-match, "that's the main thing - goals come second, but it was obviously nice to get on the scoresheet as well.
"The main thing is that we're on the plane on the way home with a big 'W'."
Elaborating on the role he played in Kenny's team tonight, the West Bromwich Albion player thanked his manager for allowing him a degree of creative licence.
"As I've said in interviews before," he explained, "when people ask me my best position in the front line, I enjoy being a free spirit at most.
"I enjoy getting on the ball, just being a threat and trying to score and assist... I'm lucky enough that the gaffer sort of gave me half that license today to do that in the game and be a free spirit."
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