Gary Cronin, the new assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland women’s team, is straight in at the deep end this week.
The former Bray Wanderers and Longford Town boss saw off over 200 applicants to land the role as Carla Ward’s deputy after Alan Mahon departed before Christmas.
Cronin’s last full-time job in football was as assistant to Declan Devine at Bohemians, which ended when the regime changed back in March 2024.
Now he’s prepping the Girls in Green for back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against France and the Netherlands, two of the strongest nations in the world. His previous experience of coaching female players is minimal, but Ward has been effusive in her praise for the 46-year-old Dubliner, while Cronin himself has been keen to downplay “the gender part”.
“It’s elite sport, their top-level internationals – and that’s the attraction for me,” he said at FAI HQ.
“The gender part of it never really came into it for me. But my work has always been in the men’s game. It’s only when I left Bohs did I have a break in football for any length of time… I would have been 45, I think. Since I’ve been 18 to that age, I’ve been constantly in football.
“It just so happened to be in the men’s game.
“I’ve been watching women’s football. I’ve been over to the UK to watch some of the games since (being appointed). So my full focus now is on the women’s game and how the girls are performing at the clubs, keeping abreast of the League of Ireland women’s side of things.
“And yeah, in relation to the differences, I’ve dealt with players that are really hungry for detail. They want information, want information. But it’s a level now with the girls. They all want that finer detail. It really challenges you as a coach to make sure you have it, which is brilliant.”
“I done a lot of research obviously around Carla, her as a head coach, I was really impressed about what I found.”
Cronin pitted his wits against Colin Healy in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division when managing Bray and Longford while Healy was in the Cork City dugout.
This time last year, debate raged over Healy’s exit from the Ireland setup along with head coach Eileen Gleeson. He claimed the FAI had assured him he’d remain as assistant boss beyond the Euro 2025 play-off against Wales no matter the result. Ireland lost, and the association opted against keeping both Gleeson and Healy on the ticket.
“For me, it’s in the past,” Cronin said when asked if the fallout had made him wary of taking up the position of Ireland No 2.
“Obviously, that’s Colin’s situation. When we played against each other as managers, we had a really, really good relationship and really, really good tactical battles. When he was with Cork City, I was at Bray Wanderers and Longford Town. He’s a very good football brain.
“I was delighted to see Colin in the role at that time because Irish coaches from the League of Ireland I’d be an advocate of. But yeah, to be perfectly honest, and I’d like to answer your question honestly, I wouldn’t have put much thought to that given the distance (of time that’s passed).
“If that happened a couple of months ago, there’d probably be more engagement in relation to that, but yeah, Colin is an excellent coach and obviously he’s doing a good job down at Kerry now at the moment.”
Gary Cronin on the touchline when managing Bray Wanderers in 2020
Cronin said he had not sought advice from Healy before taking the role but plans to reach out to him after this camp, adding: “There are certain coaches I will speak to after camp when I have experiences I can share with them. I do actually plan on Colin being one of those to bounce off.”
He jokingly said he’s studied France, the Netherlands and Poland (Ireland’s other World Cup qualification opponents) so intensely that “they’re in my dreams at this stage”, but there’s another dream that’s driving Cronin: making it to a World Cup.
“I done a lot of research obviously around Carla, her as a head coach, I was really impressed about what I found,” he said. “The biggest pull then after that was the momentum the girls had after beating Belgium and the potential to get to a World Cup in 2027 in Brazil. I looked at that as unbelievable motivation to try and get to a World Cup, a FIFA tournament at senior elite level and that was a major attraction for me.
“The camp has started off very well. It’s very challenging in a very positive way.”
The vibes are pretty good ahead of a new venture, with Cronin’s football-mad daughters particularly pleased with the situation.
“I have two sons as well, but the two girls have especially taken to the role I’m taking.
“I have their friends when I pick them up from school, they give me high-fives and all which is great. One of them asked me to keep her place now for the next six years, make sure I have a place for her. I said, ‘I’ll talk to the manager about that for you’.”
Watch Republic of Ireland v France on Tuesday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on an extended Inside Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.