The FAI have cut ties with Stephen Kenny’s entire coaching ticket. John O’Shea was promoted from the Ireland under-21s management in February, after three years of revolving coaches in the senior squad.
O’Shea recently joined Wayne Rooney’s staff at Birmingham City while goalkeeping coach Dean Kiely’s day job is at Crystal Palace.
Capped 118 times for Ireland, O’Shea came in for John Eustace who replaced Anthony Barry after he spent a year coaching Ireland when Damien Duff resigned in early 2021.
Kenny’s assistant manager, Keith Andrews, who was capped 35 times, has also parted company with the FAI. Andrews has worked as a pundit for Sky Sports but recently expressed a desire to remain in coaching.
Damien Doyle, the association’s head of athletic performance, and Stephen Rice, the chief scout and opposition analyst, left their roles this morning.
“We would like to thank Keith, John, Stephen, Dean and Damien for their excellent service and commitment,” said Marc Canham, the FAI director of football. “I would particularly like to thank Keith Andrews who has served the association so well in the assistant manager role with both the under-21s and senior team, and he leaves with our very best wishes for his future career in football.
“The level of professionalism each of them have brought to their roles over their period of time with the association has been exemplary and we’re extremely grateful for their hard work with the senior men’s national team.
“They leave with the association’s gratitude and respect, and the FAI wish them all the very best in the future.”
No interim manager has been appointed. With no international games until a friendly window next March, Canham has time to test the market before hiring a head coach who will answer directly to the 41-year-old, who reports into chief executive Jonathan Hill.
However, the reported salary of €520,000 that Kenny received will make it challenging to attract an experienced coach. The highest-paid manager in the EFL Championship is on almost €4 million a year with an average salary across the English second tier of €1 million, according to Reuters.
Canham is also tasked with finding a replacement for women’s manager Vera Pauw who did not have her contract renewed last August. He is also set to publish a white paper on how Irish football pathways will work and club academies can be funded over the next 10 years.
