Stephen Kenny (born 30 October 1971) is an Irish football manager and former player who is the manager of League of Ireland Premier Division side St Patrick's Athletic. He has formerly managed Longford Town, Bohemians, Derry City, Dunfermline Athletic, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, the Republic of Ireland U21 side and the senior Republic of Ireland national team. He is one of Republic of Ireland's most successful domestic league managers, having won eight trophies with Dundalk.
Early life Kenny grew up in Tallaght and lived there for the first 18 years of his life. He attended Our Lady of Loreto Boys National School and Old Bawn Community School. Kenny ran a successful meat-production business in the late 1990s before moving into football management full-time.
Playing career During his playing career, Kenny spent two years at Belvedere as a schoolboy before signing for St Patrick's Athletic. Without making an appearance he then transferred to Home Farm, playing just four games in the League of Ireland First Division, making his League of Ireland debut on 13 March 1994. Following time at Home Farm, Kenny had an offer to sign for Kilkenny City, before choosing to sign for hometown club Tallaght Town as player-manager. Starting in Senior 1B of the Leinster Senior League, Kenny guided the club to three successive promotions, before Shamrock Rovers merged with Tallaght Town.
Coaching career Early career Following his time at Tallaght Town, Kenny moved to St Patrick's Athletic when he took charge of the Dublin side's under-21 squad in the Athletic Union League, guiding the team to a league win.
Longford Town In the summer of 1998, Kenny became the youngest manager in National League history when he took over Longford Town at the age of 26. He led Longford to huge success during his three-year tenure as they won promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division for the first time and subsequently reached the 2001 FAI Cup Final, qualifying for the 2001–02 UEFA Cup. During his time at Longford, his budget for the entire squad was £1,000 and he spent money out of his own pocket on transfer fees for Richie Parsons and Robbie Coyle with money that was supposed to be for wooden floors in the new house he and his wife had bought. He also organised a family holiday to Dungarvan, County Waterford, so he could speak face to face with Waterford natives Alan Kirby and Alan Reynolds, both of whom he convinced to sign for the club.
Bohemians In December 2001, Kenny left the midlands club and became manager of Bohemians, taking over at Dalymount Park. Bohemians were then the champions of the Eircom League, having won the Double the previous season. However, the club was in something of a crisis, with former manager Roddy Collins' successor Pete Mahon struggling after a strong start to the season. Kenny's impact at Bohemians was immediate, as the side steadily moved away from the lower end of the league table. Kenny's squad reached that year's FAI Cup final, which saw Dundalk FC seal a close 2–1 victory over Bohemians.
In the 2002–2003 season, Kenny made some changes within the first-team squad and led Bohemians to a Premier Division title win, granting the side qualification for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. Although Bohemians did not progress to the second qualifying round, Kenny's revitalised squad celebrated a 3–0 win over FC BATE Borisov, the record-holders for the most Belarusian Premier League titles won.
The following season, Bohemians placed second to winners Shelbourne FC in the league, securing the club's place in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup first qualifying round. Kenny left Bohemians on 27 July 2004 with a league record of 49 wins in 96 games.
Derry City (first spell)
After just three weeks out of the game, Kenny returned to management at Derry City following the departure of Gavin Dykes, taking over from caretaker manager Peter Hutton. His time at the club was hugely successful and he has been credited for turning a team battling against relegation in the 2004 season into one which challenged for the Premier Division title in 2005, finishing runners-up.
Kenny also guided Derry City to their first advancement in European competition in over 40 years, the last seeing Norwegian side Lyn Oslo being knocked out. Derry qualified for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup by finishing runners-up in the Premier Division in the 2005 season. On 13 July 2006, Derry overcame two-time winners IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round 2–0 on aggregate. A 79th-minute header from Sean Hargan was enough to give Derry a shock win in the first leg, and Stephen O'Flynn ensured a 1–0 home victory from the penalty spot. Kenny was delighted with the win, stating:
This marked Derry City's first progression in European football since defeating Lyn Oslo more than 40 years ago.
Derry City were subsequently drawn against Scottish second-level side Gretna in the second qualifying round. On 10 August 2006, Derry claimed a 5–1 away win to gain a considerable advantage going into the home leg. This result is the largest away winning margin for a League of Ireland team in Europe.Slack Gretna given cruel lesson by five-star Derry It is also the heaviest home defeat recorded of any Scottish team in European competition. Stephen Halliday, sport.scotsman.com. Retrieved 12 August 2006 Following a 2–2 home draw with Gretna in the second leg and a 7–3 win on aggregate, Derry advanced to the UEFA Cup First Round. In the draw, held on 25 August 2006, Derry City were handed a tough tie against Paris Saint-Germain FC. The first leg was played at home at Brandywell Stadium on the evening of 14 September 2006 and ended in a 0–0 draw. The second leg was played at Parc des Princes on 28 September. PSG won the second leg 2–0 with goals from Pauleta and Edouard Cisse.
Kenny remained in charge of Derry City until 17 November 2006 for their final league game before moving to Dunfermline Athletic. Derry finished second in the league behind Shelbourne, who had a stronger goal difference. Kenny then made a return to Derry City to manage the club for the FAI Cup final win against St. Patrick's Athletic.
Kenny's total managerial record at Derry included 112 games managed, 65 games won, 29 games drawn, 18 games lost, 170 goals for, 80 goals against, and 57 clean sheets. His win percentage was 58%. During his time in charge, a total of 32 players represented the club, and 7 players that he managed went on to represent their country at international level.
Dunfermline Athletic Kenny was confirmed as the new Dunfermline Athletic manager on 10 November 2006 and took up his position on 18 November 2006 where he was to watch Dunfermline's game against Dundee United from the stand.
Following his departure from the League of Ireland, his contributions during the 2006 season were still recognised by eircom / Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) who nominated the former Derry City manager for their 'Personality of the Year' award on 13 December 2006.
In January 2007, Kenny brought in Jim O'Brien, Adam Hammill, Bobby Ryan, Jamie Harris and Stephen Glass to the club and later recruited released Falkirk striker Tam McManus. Kenny and his coaching team led Dunfermline to the Scottish Cup Final on 24 April 2007 having defeated Rangers, Hearts, and Partick Thistle, securing a 1–0 win over Hibernian in the semi-final replay. The Cup Final ended with a narrow 1–0 loss to Celtic. A 2–1 defeat at Inverness Caledonian Thistle coupled with St Mirren's 3–2 win at Motherwell saw the Fife club relegated to the First Division, despite having previously won four league games in a row.
On 4 December 2007, Kenny departed the club and striker Jim McIntyre, injured for much of Kenny's time at the club, took charge as caretaker.
Derry City (second spell) Following his departure from Dunfermline Athletic and the exit of Derry City manager John Robertson, Kenny was strongly linked with a return to the League of Ireland club. Kenny was confirmed to have returned to Derry City on 28 December 2007.
In 2008, Derry City won the League of Ireland Cup with a confident 6–1 win over Wexford Youths. The club ended the season in third place in the league table, securing its entry to the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.
After the club was relegated to the League of Ireland First Division in 2009 for entering administration, Kenny stayed on as Derry City manager, winning the 2010 First Division title and guiding the side back to the Premier Division. In 2011, Derry City's return to the Premier Division saw them claim a third-place finish in the league table and a League Cup win with a 1–0 victory over Cork City. Kenny left the club on 24 December 2011 to join Shamrock Rovers.
Shamrock Rovers Following the departure of former manager Michael O'Neill, Kenny was confirmed as the new manager of Shamrock Rovers on 27 December 2011. The side ended the 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division in fourth place, three points behind closest rivals St Patrick's Athletics. Kenny departed the club on 11 September 2012.
Dundalk In November 2012, Dundalk confirmed Kenny as its new first-team manager. The side mounted an unexpected title challenge in Kenny's first season and would finish runners-up, with a defeat to eventual champions St Patrick's Athletic ultimately costing them the title. But Kenny kept the nucleus of the new side together for the following season and in 2014, led the club to its first league title since 1994–95, landing a place in the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. Dundalk also won 2014's League of Ireland Cup, the club's first League and League Cup Double.
The 2015 season saw Dundalk dominate: Kenny's squad clinched another League and FAI Cup Double, winning the title by 11 points and securing the Cup with a victory over Cork City in the 2015 FAI Cup final. They also won the Leinster Senior Cup, the club's first 'treble' since 1966–67. A third league title in a row was sealed with two games to spare in 2016.
2016 also saw the club qualify for the Champions League play-off round after they defeated FH of Iceland, then came from a goal down in the tie to defeat BATE Borisov 3–1 on aggregate. Dundalk drew Legia Warsaw for the play-off, with the first leg played in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in front of a crowd of 30,417. They suffered a 2–0 defeat in the home leg, but shocked Legia in the return leg by taking a 1–0 lead. With Dundalk pushing for the equaliser that would have taken the tie to extra-time, Legia scored on the break and won the tie 3–1 on aggregate. As a result, Dundalk qualified for the group stage of the Europa League, making them only the second Irish team to have done so. A draw with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, followed by a victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in Tallaght Stadium, were the first points earned by an Irish club in the group stage of European competition.
In 2017, after the European run, Dundalk won the League Cup again and finished second place in the league. The club secured a place in that year's FAI Cup Final, but following a 1–1 draw that took the game to penalties, opponents Cork City ultimately took the Cup. The club's European form had attracted interest from abroad and a consortium of American investors, backed by sports-investors PEAK6, completed a takeover in January 2018. That year, Kenny's side won another League and Cup Double, the second under Kenny and fourth in the club's history, breaking points-total and goals scored-total records.