Eamon Dunphy calls for Stephen Kenny and Brian Kerr to be offered the Ireland job

RTÉ pundit Eamon Dunphy has added to a chorus calling for Brian Kerr to be brought back into the international set-up and proposed Stephen Kenny work alongside him as national team manager.

The former Ireland international pressed his case on 2FM's Game On show on Monday night, arguing Kenny has proven on the European stage he's capable of competing at a high level.

Dundalk came within a goal of reaching the group stages of the Champions League last year as they trailed Legia Warsaw 2-1 on aggregate going into injury time in Poland.

After beating serial Champions League qualifiers BATE in the previous round, Dundalk became the first Irish side to gain points in the Europa League groups, finishing on four points.

"I think Stephen Kenny has proved himself over and over, not just at Dundalk," Dunphy said.

"He's a really top coach and he was within one bad decision of getting to the league stages of the Champions League.

"Then he loses his players but he goes out and gets more, he's a really top coach. He's a low-profile guy, his work hasn't been appreciated."

On Kerr, Dunphy correctly pointed out that the former St Patrick's Athletic, Ireland and Faroe Islands boss brought through the likes of Damien Duff and record goalscorer Robbie Keane.

The Drimnagh man was manager of the Ireland under-20 that came third in the FIFA World Youth Championships in 1999, a side containing Keane, Duff, Colin Healy and Stephen McPhail.

Dunphy said: "Brian Kerr nurtured the generation that produced Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne and others, and did really well in international competitions.

“Brian knows the grassroots of the game here, he knows the game as well and I think the Trapattoni experience was searing. Although we qualified for Poland, we got humiliated.

"The Martin O'Neill experience for me, and I don't want to denigrate him [but] what he believes, I'm sure, is that our players aren't any good and he's got to play this up and under stuff.

"While you can make a case for him keeping the job, you can make a case for turning over a new leaf, taking back control of who the manager of the Irish team is and the coach and giving Stephen Kenny and Brian Kerr a remit for the next five years."