Neil Lennon set for management return as ex-Celtic boss leads bookies market for top job

The former Celtic and Hibs gaffer has been out of football since he departed Parkhead in February, but he is keen to get back into management as soon as possible.

Current Ireland manager Kenny is under major pressure having won just one of his 15 matches in charge – a friendly win over Andorra.

Bookmakers Paddy Power now have Lennon as favourite to replace Kenny at 23/10. Roy Keane is next in at 11/2, with Robbie Keane at 7/1.

Kenny launched a passionate defence of his Republic of Ireland reign after admitting their World Cup hopes are realistically over.

Ireland needed a late Shane Duffy equaliser to spare them the ignominy of a home defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan, ranked 112th in the world, as they belatedly opened their Group A account at the fourth time of asking after a 1-1 draw in Dublin.

As a result, they sit second bottom in the table at the halfway stage, nine points adrift of joint leaders Portugal and Serbia and without a competitive win in 15 attempts.

However, asked if he might have to accept that it was not working for him, defiant manager Kenny said: “No, I certainly do not accept that. No, absolutely not.

“We were absolutely exceptional against Portugal, we played very well in the previous game against Hungary, the previous game we scored four goals, the previous game against Qatar we played well and then the previous game, we obviously had a poor game against Luxembourg, but the previous game against Serbia, again excellent. So a lot of the recent performances have been very, very good.

“But we’ve got to turn performances into results. We’ve played an awful lot of good football, if I mention those recent games – Serbia, Hungary, obviously getting four against Andorra, the other night against Portugal.

“Today where we played a lot of good football and created a lot of chances, if we win 2-1, we’re having a different conversation, so we’re kicking ourselves that we haven’t won that game.”