After scoring a hat-trick for Brighton against Newcastle, his injury has been viewed as a huge blow for the Irish.

"I'm happy with the team we have and the options we have," said Kenny.

Ferguson's withdrawal on Tuesday came with attackers Troy Parrott, Michael Obafemi, Callum Robinson, and Mikey Johnston already unavailable to Kenny.

"I think because we've given 18 players their debuts over the last two years, it's increased the level of squad depth and it means that we have a strong team," added the Republic boss.

Kenny's side face a crunch double-header against France and the Netherlands, ranked second and seventh in the world, as they bid to boost their chances of qualifying for a first tournament under the Dubliner.

The Irish have taken just three points from as many games, having opened their campaign with defeats by France and Greece before beating Gibraltar.

"We know many people don't give us much of a chance, I understand why," added Kenny.

"But we're going to give ourselves every opportunity and to prepare well and perform to the level that we need by putting in a really strong performance."

With France having reached the last two World Cup finals, Kenny concedes that Thursday's match at Parc des Princes is likely the biggest challenge he has faced during his three-and-a-half-year Republic reign.

However, the Dubliner says he took confidence from the manner of his side's 1-0 loss to the beaten World Cup finalists at the Aviva Stadium in March, when the Republic pressed hard for a late equaliser only to be denied by an inspired performance from French goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

"They won the World Cup [in 2018] and obviously lost [the final] last year on penalties. They're definitely in the best two teams in the world, if not the best," added Kenny.

"We respect their talent and to come into their backyard, their home arena, and to play them presents a stiff challenge but one that we understand is difficult but we're very excited by it. It's an opportunity for us.

"We knew we got the most difficult of groups. But I have every confidence in the players and they showed their quality in the game against France in Dublin which was a very even affair overall.

"France had more possession than we did for sure but chances created it was pretty even, so it's different coming to Paris, we understand that.

"We're obviously missing several of our players but that increases the motivation. We're up against it but it increases the motivation to put in a performance and that's certainly our intention."

Captain Egan wants Irish to embrace daunting task

Paris St-Germain star Kylian Mbappe has started the season with five goals in three Ligue 1 games

With Seamus Coleman injured, John Egan is expected to captain the Republic against France if the Sheffield United centre-back proves his fitness in time.

Kenny was upbeat on Egan's chances of featuring despite the defender having battled a knee issue this week.

When asked about the prospect of again coming up against Paris St-Germain star Kylian Mbappe, who has started the Ligue 1 season with five goals in three games, Egan said: "We know they are a top team, but I just think we need to embrace these games.

"We embraced it in Dublin and put in a really good performance we can take a lot of confidence from. We deserved a draw that night and if it wasn't for the keeper making a world-class save at the end, we might have got that.

"We just have to embrace it. It's one of the toughest games in international football, coming here against France, so we know we'll have to perform to our maximum.

"But we have a lot of belief in ourselves. We just need to make sure we go out there and perform to the best of our ability."

Kenny said that goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and defender Ryan Manning will miss Wednesday evening's training session, while Nottingham Forest defender Andrew Omobamidele has linked up with the squad following a family bereavement.