Kenny blames finishing as Ireland miss out after Greece defeat

The Republic of Ireland's dreams of qualifying for Euro 2024 ended after a 2-0 defeat to Greece.

Giorgos Giakoumakis opened the scoring by thumping home Kostas Tsimikas' whipped cross early in the first half.

Giorgos Masouras then doubled Greece's lead seconds before the break, capitalising on a miscued shot from Dimitrios Pelkas after good work by Giakoumakis on the counter.

Under-pressure Ireland boss Stephen Kenny expressed his disappointment and blamed the defeat on a lack of ruthlessness from his players in the final third.

Speaking to RTE after the game, he said: "It is a game we were desperate to win and we didn't want to lose, so everyone is hugely disappointed. 

"We conceded two goals that were preventable. We had more shots than them, but they were more ruthless than us."

It now means Ireland have failed to qualify for the 2024 Euros after just one win and five losses in their six matches thus far, leaving them fourth in Group B.

Kenny praised the effort of his players but bemoaned their inability to apply the finishing touch.

He said: "For the first goal, we didn't mark in the box and it was a quality cross and finish, but we can't give free headers and we got punished. 

"We had a lot of pressure, corner kicks and we conceded right on half-time which was a killer. 

"They defended well, we played better in the second half, the players gave everything and pushed, but we couldn't find the goals. 

"We shouldn't be losing to Greece at home, we know that."