Stephen Kenny: Republic boss questions officials after his 'heroic' side suffer late Portugal agony
- Published
Kenny is still without a competitive win as Republic of Ireland boss
Stephen Kenny questioned the officials' performance after his Republic of Ireland side came close to securing what he said would have been the best win in their qualification history.
The Republic led Portugal 1-0 until the 89th minute before a Cristiano Ronaldo double won the World Cup qualifying match for the hosts.
John Egan had headed Kenny's men into the lead just before the interval.
"I'm just gutted for the players," Kenny told RTE after the match in Faro.
"They were absolutely heroic with how much they have left out there. They have given absolutely everything of themselves. It's a tough one to lose but we can't dwell on it."
A visibly dejected Kenny, whose side have now lost all three of their World Cup 2022 qualifiers, was not happy with the awarding of a free-kick to Portugal by referee Matej Jug just before Ronaldo's headed equaliser one minute from normal time.
"I can't see how they've missed a chance and it's given as a free-kick right at the end just before the goal," he continued.
"We were only a minute away from what would have been the best victory in Ireland's qualification history in terms of being away from home.
"With the fourth official, we couldn't get a sub on in the first half, he was completely unhelpful. It was terrible the amount of time it took to try and get a substitute on. We were trying to get two subs on before they scored."
'My confidence is not an issue'
Television replays appeared to show Ronaldo pushing Dara O'Shea during what was a long delay before taking his 15th-minute penalty, which was saved by young Republic goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, but Kenny did not see the incident.
Instead, the 49-year-old Dubliner looked ahead to Saturday's visit of Azerbaijan to Dublin's Aviva Stadium as his side aim to record their first qualification points of the campaign.
"My confidence is not an issue and the players' confidence has been terrific but it is a kick in the teeth.
"We have had a few, there is no doubt, but they are a terrific group of people.
"It will be great to play in front of our home support, 28,000 hopefully, because we will need energy after tonight.
"They left so much out there and we have to travel home tomorrow, have one day's training and then go again on Saturday."