St Patrick’s Athletic Director of Football, Ger O’Brien, is to take charge of the club’s first team in the wake of the departure of Harry Kenny, who has left the club after Friday evening’s FAI Cup defeat at UCD.
O’Brien, who will be assisted by Sean O’Connor will oversee the club’s next league game, on Friday, in Finn Park where a win would most likely be required to maintain the side’s challenge for a place in Europe next season.
Kenny, who took over in the close season, departs after failing to make the hoped for impact at a club whose investment in players after his arrival generated some fairly high expectations for this season.
The team has struggled to score goals, though, something that had prevented them from building any sort momentum and the supporters called for his departure on Friday night as St Patrick’s lost 3-1 to a team that had been beaten 10-1 by Bohemians in their previous game.
“It hurts. I’m not made of stone by any means,” Kenny said after the game. “I heard them loud and clear, but you just have to keep believing in the players and in yourself and keep motoring ahead.”
On Saturday afternoon, however, the club issued a statement saying that he was leaving “by mutual consent”.
