Gary Cronin Named Republic of Ireland Women's Assistant Coach

Gary Cronin has been appointed as assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland's women's side. Cronin, a former Longford Town and Bray Wanderers manager in the League of Ireland, has also served as as assistant coach with Bohemians. The Dubliner has also done a lot of work with the FAI coach development team, including delivering sessions on the most recent UEFA Pro Licence course and will now take up the role supporting Carla Ward. He replaces Alan Mahon, who stepped down for personal reasons in December. Cronin will work with the side ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers, where Ireland will compete in Group A2 alongside France, Netherlands and Poland. The first match is at home to France on Tuesday, 3 March before travelling to Netherlands four days later. Cronin said: "I’m excited to join the Ireland squad at such a crucial time, going into the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. It is an honour to represent my country at the highest level and to have the opportunity of working with such quality players and experienced staff. "This is a challenge that I’m ready to embrace and to do everything that I can to help the team qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team have been unbelievable over the last few years, even recently clinching promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League, so I just want to contribute to that and hopefully help the team achieve even more success." Ward said: "It is brilliant to welcome Gary to the Ireland women’s national team ahead of our FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers as he will bring a new energy, fresh ideas and a proven skillset of coaching elite players. "There were a lot of excellent candidates who we spoke with to fill the position of assistant coach, but Gary stood out because of his attention to detail, the positive aura that he emits and his ability to get the most out of players. He is a fantastic addition to our squad."