The Saints take on Istanbul Basaksehir in the first leg at Tallaght Stadium this Thursday, with the return leg away in Turkey six days later, as the club targets a group stage qualification for the first time in their history.
Before the last round against Azerbaijan side Sabah, Kenny revealed how St Pat’s requested the FAI to postpone their league clash with Galway United to aid their preparations. That was denied and the game went ahead.
The Inchicore side will now again find themselves in league action between two huge European ties as they travel to face Dundalk this Sunday (3.0), three days before their second-leg clash in Turkey at 5pm Irish time.
“This is one of the biggest games in St Patrick’s Athletic’s history – the opportunity to get to the group stages. Two games in five-and-a-half days is tight enough, but the fact we’ve actually had a third game inserted into the middle of that against Dundalk in Oriel Park on Sunday is insane, really,” said Kenny, speaking to the club’s media today ahead of Thursday’s first leg.
“To expect the players to put in the greatest performance of their lives in Turkey on Wednesday, having already played two games in such a short period is hard to fathom. We’re trying to maximise our performance and outperform ourselves.
“Our opponents won the Turkish league a couple of years ago. They were in the Champions League group stages and beat Manchester United. They’ve had some good results. For us to beat them over two legs, we’ll need the performance of our lives. So to have a league game put in the middle, to have three in five-and-a-half-days, makes it extremely difficult.
“Any of the league clubs, I understand their point of view, they all have their own seasons to fight for, whether that’s a club pushing for Europe or fighting relegation. You can’t blame any other club, it’s not a question of that.
“You’re looking for a decision from the FAI to give you a real opportunity because the provision is there to do that, but they’ve chosen not to do that. That’s one thing we’ve just got to get on with and we will get on with it.
“If we do it, we do it the hard way, but we must strive to do that because the European wins are really really special. None would be more special than this one.”
The Irish Independent understands that the FAI agreed with clubs at the end of 2021 that random fixtures needed to be prevented going forward, and that teams being paired off in European qualifying rounds one and two would be of benefit to those involved.
Since then, clubs in Europe have been asked at the end of each season if they want to continue with that arrangement, and have agreed. It is understood that Dundalk were asked to postpone Sunday’s fixture, but the club refused, as did Galway United earlier this month.
