Stephen Kenny is convinced he can do "a very good job" as Republic of Ireland manager despite presiding over a catastrophic start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Kenny's 10-game reign plumbed new depths on Saturday evening when Ireland slipped to an ignominious 1-0 qualifier defeat at home to Luxembourg on a night when a first victory under the former under-21s boss was the only option.

He later insisted he was not worried about his job despite mounting criticism and when asked why, he replied: "It's not something I'm focusing on. From my point of view, I can't affect that. It's not something I'm focusing on at all.

"Over the campaign, we've got to do a lot better than we did tonight. The performance against Serbia was excellent but ultimately, we didn't win. Tonight is a real setback for us, I'm not denying that, there's no getting away from that.

"I have to accept the criticism, to be honest with you, that comes my way and fight harder to do better. That will be my intention."

Ireland sit at the foot of Group A after two rounds of fixtures and with a trip to reigning European champions Portugal next up in September, when they also face Azerbaijan and Serbia at home, things could get worse before they get better.

Asked if he believes qualification remains a possibility, Kenny replied: "Well, it's only two games out of eight and there's a lot of football to be played.

"We've given ourselves a lot to do, there's no doubt about that. We're unlikely, of course, to win the group, but we still have to try to work hard to try to put ourselves in contention.

"The three games in September will be very important. There will be nine points to play for, so we've just got to try the maximum in that window."