Stephen Kenny (football)

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Personal information
Stephen Kenny

Date of birth	1971
Place of birth	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Club information
Current club	Dunfermline Athletic
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
	Belvedere F.C. St Patrick's Athletic Home Farm
Teams managed
1998-2001 2001-2004 2004-2006 2006-	Longford Town Bohemian Derry City Dunfermline Athletic
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Stephen Kenny (born 1971 in Dublin) is a former Republic of Ireland footballer and currently manager of Scottish Premier League side Dunfermline Athletic.

1 Playing career
2 Managerial career
- 2.1 Ireland
- 2.2 Scotland
3 References

[edit] Playing career

During his playing career, Kenny spent two years at Belvedere F.C. as a schoolboy before signing for St Patrick's Athletic. He failed to make the breakthrough at St. Pats and transferred to Home Farm Everton, playing just 4 games in the League of Ireland First Division.

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] Ireland

Kenny began his managerial career with St Patrick's Athletic when he took charge of the Dublin side's Under 21 side in the Athletic Union League. His first year was successful as St. Pats won the league and in the summer of 1998, Kenny became the youngest manager in National League history when he took over Longford Town at the age of 27. He led Longford to huge success during his three year tenure as they won promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division, reached an FAI Cup final and subsequently, qualified for the UEFA Cup.

In December 2001, Kenny left the midlands club and became manager of Bohemians. Taking over at Dalymount Park, Kenny lifted the club out of relegation trouble and took them to an FAI Cup final in his first half-season in charge. His first full campaign, the 2002/2003 season, saw Bohemians win the Premier Division title, while a season later, they finished runners-up. In the following season, Bohemians began poorly and after 3 months found themselves in 3rd place. Kenny's job was insecure and he was sacked on 27 July 2004, following the 3-1 home defeat of Bohemians in the UEFA Cup to Estonian side FC Levadia Tallinn.

After just three weeks out of the game, Kenny returned to management at Derry City following the sacking of Gavin Dykes, and took over from caretaker manager, Peter Hutton. His time at the club has been hugely successful and he has been accredited 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.

He also guided Derry City to their first advancement in European competition in over 40 years (the last seeing Lyn Oslo being knocked out) Derry qualified for the UEFA Cup due to finishing runners-up in the Premier Division in the 2005-06 season. On 13 July 2006, Derry overcame two time winners IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup first Qualifying round by an aggregate score of 2-0. A 79th-minute header from Sean Hargan was enough to give Derry a shock win^[1] in the first leg, and Stephen O'Flynn ensured a 1-0 home victory from the penalty spot. Manager Stephen Kenny was delighted with the win stating:

They have won the UEFA Cup twice and only a few years ago were in the group stages of the Champions League so this is a great night for everyone connected with Derry City. We were worthy winners. It is not as if we got a goal and held on. I think we played the better football^[2].

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 August 10, 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.^[3] Following a 2-2 home draw with Gretna F.C. in the second leg and a 7-3 win on aggregate, Derry advanced to the UEFA Cup First Round. In the draw, held on 25th 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 and ended in a hard fought 0-0 draw, a magnificent result for the battling Derry side. The second leg was played at Parc des Princes on 28 September. Paris St. Germain won the second leg 2-0 with goals from Pauleta and Edouard Cisse.

He 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 remarkable return to Derry City to manage the club for the FAI Cup final win against St. Patrick's Athletic^[4].

[edit] Scotland

Kenny was confirmed as the new Dunfermline Athletic manager on 10 November 2006^[5] and took up his position on 18 November 2006 where he was to watch Dunfermline's game against Dundee United from the stand^[6] An interview was done upon his arrival at the club by stv.

Following his departure from the eircom League, his contributions during the 2006 season were still recognised by eircom / Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) who nominated the former Derry manager for their 'Personality of the Year' award on 13 December 2006.