Brian Kerr believes Stephen Kenny would have gained more value by staging an in-house match rather than taking on Andorra for the only win of his 13-game reign.

Ireland’s 4-1 victory last Thursday against the nation ranked 158th in the world accounted for half the goals his team scored over that dire streak.

Kerr – who was in Kenny’s shoes from 2003-2005 before managing Faroe Islands – was more enthused by what he witnessed in Tuesday’s scoreless draw against Hungary.

The real assessment on topical subjects such as Ireland’s attacking duo of Troy Parrott and Adam Idah has him concerned for the renewal of World Cup combat in September. Parrott bagged his first two senior international goals in the comeback win.

Ireland face the European champions Portugal in Faro having lost both their opening qualifiers to Serbia and Luxembourg in March.

“I didn’t think we should have been playing Andorra,” Kerr reasoned about the choice of end-of-season friendly opposition.

“If Andorra are drawn in your group you have to play them but otherwise why would you be picking them to play in a friendly? There’s hardly a financial advantage to it.

“I didn’t see huge value in it. I would have thought we’d be better off playing a squad match – 11 v 11 with referees and linesmen.

“You would have got as much out of that as playing Andorra.

“If the process for an evaluation of the players’ ability to play in the next serious match against Portugal, I didn’t think it was worthwhile.

“People might point out that surely it was positive for Troy Parrott getting a game and scoring a few goals, I’d say well, did it really matter?

“How did he do in the next match against Hungary and is he likely to play against Portugal because he scored twice against Andorra. I would say no because you’d evaluate his performance over the two friendlies.

“Hungary was a better evaluation of real international football because they had aggressive, strong defenders. They’re playing at reasonably high level, the likes of Willi Orban at RB Leipzig. It’s not like playing underage international football; this is real.

“Adam Idah got knocked off the ball so many times against Hungary when it was played to him.

“As a central striker, you’ve got to hold it up and bring midfielders into the game. But the front players have to be good enough when the ball is played up to them.

“What we saw against Hungary is that as Idah develops as a player by getting older, stronger and more games, he’ll be more ready to deliver for us at international level. Same for Parrott if he gets club games.

“But at this stage, are they going to knock Pepe, Jose Fonte or Rúben Dias against Portugal in September? Let’s wait and see but the basis of the last games, they’re not ready.

“All the players need to be playing at a decent club level to deliver for Ireland.”

Meanwhile, Kerr is baffled that the FAI hasn’t resolved Robbie Keane’s unconventional employment situation.

The new hierarchy were left with a problem when Stephen Kenny opted against retaining Mick McCarthy’s assistant on his backroom staff following the managerial handover in April 2020. Keane’s contract term included the current World Cup campaign arising from a deal struck by deposed chief executive John Delaney.

"I’m disappointed that it’s taken so long," Kerr said.

"Money is scarce. The FAI have had no crowds at the matches, no season ticket sales and no major sponsorships announced. You can understand that because it’s a difficult marketplace; the international team isn’t winning games.

"It’s not like people are celebrating qualifying for the Euros, we’ve got through the Nations League or started the World Cup qualifiers.

"There’s a lot of doom and gloom.

"Within that, surely you’d think they’d get that one dealt with so that Robbie isn’t being paid for not working. I’m sure he’d prefer to be working.

"It seems to be taking a long time and there doesn’t seem to have been an urgency to sort it out."

• Brian Kerr was on hand to officially launch the Football for Unity Festival in conjunction with Sport Against Racism Ireland. The venture aims to foster the social inclusion of third-country nationals sustainably through active participation in football-based initiatives.
• In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UEFA European Football Championship, Dublin will be hosting a Football for UNITY Festival to showcase the potential of football as an educational tool which can bring communities together and promote social inclusion for newcomers to Ireland.
• The festival will take place at venues across the north east inner city of Dublin from Monday (June 14) to until Friday (June 18).