Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny says suggestions he could be out of a job if his side fail to beat Serbia on Tuesday are "irrelevant to me".

After last Wednesday's unlucky 2-1 defeat in Portugal, more pressure was heaped on Kenny by Saturday's 1-1 uninspiring home draw with Azerbaijan.

That earned the Republic's first point in four World Cup qualifiers with hopes of a spot in Qatar seemingly over.

"It comes with the territory," said Kenny of the mounting pressure.

"It is not something that I am concerned about."

The Republic's failure to beat the 112th-ranked Azerbaijan outfit left Kenny with only one win in his 15 games in charge - a 4-1 friendly victory over Andorra in June - and still to lead the team to success in 11 competitive matches.
'I've been given full support by the FAI'

Asked if he had been given any guarantees over the job as Tuesday's game against the Group A leaders approaches, Kenny replied: "I've not been given any assurances, I've just been given full support by the FAI behind the scenes. They've been brilliant."

Continuing his defiant tone that followed Saturday's latest poor result, Kenny said his main focus since starting the job has been on qualifying for Euro 2024 as he attempts to mould a new and largely young team.

"With Serbia and Portugal in the group, and the spine ripped out of the team, and we haven't qualified for the World Cup since 2002, did anyone think that we were favourites to qualify or that we should qualify?

"We certainly have a plan in place. I made the decision - right or wrong - that we would build this squad to be a really, really competitive team to qualify for Germany 2024.

"We didn't not try to win the games, we went very close to winning in Serbia and winning against Portugal, away from home. We scored the first goal in both games and played brilliant football in both games. I've taken that decision, collectively we did."

'The media get a kick out of us not doing well'

Republic winger James McClean claimed that the Irish media appeared to be enjoying the team and manager's struggles.

Asked about the effect of a difficult few days on the young players in Kenny's squad, McClean said: "We have to just rally around them and tell them just to pay no attention because funnily enough, the media in Ireland is just as bad, if not worse, than the media in England.

"They kind of get a kick out of us not doing well.

"It's a shame, really, but as senior players, we have been here a long time, we know how it works and the young players need to learn, so we just have to tell them, 'You know what, it's part and parcel of football, pay no attention'.

"People are fickle. As soon as we start winning games, then you're the best in the world again.

"Every single one of us needs to stand up and be counted," added the Wigan player.

The Republic will be without injured skipper Seamus Coleman for the visit of the Serbians, his place in the squad taken by Fulham full-back Cyrus Christie.