\u201cthe standout\u201d from over 200 applicants<\/a>\u00a0for the role, which Alan Mahon vacated in December due to personal reasons.<\/p>\nCronin has been making his impact felt on the training pitch this week: described as assertive, detail-oriented, and \u201ca breath of fresh air\u201d, initial reports have been positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It must be a baptism of fire, of sorts. His previous experience of women\u2019s football is through his two daughters, coaching girls in preparation, and watching from afar.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy work has really always been in the men\u2019s game,\u201d Cronin tells The 42.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s elite sport, they\u2019re top-level internationals, and that\u2019s the attraction for me. The gender part of it never really came into it for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relation to the differences, I\u2019ve dealt with players that are really hungry for detail. They want information, want information. But it\u2019s a [new] level now with the girls. You can spend longer on some coaching points because they\u2019re hungry for the finer detail. It really challenges you as a coach to make sure you have it, which is brilliant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I spoke to good football people that have worked in the women\u2019s game, that was the common theme. Hungry for detail, hungry for information. So that makes you obviously have to be prepared for the session, prepared for the information to give.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just slightly different challenges, but all positive so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cronin, who turns 47 next month, is delighted to be back in football full-time, having returned to his sales and insurance career after departing Bohs in 2024.<\/p>\n
Prior to that, he managed Longford and Bray, having played for both clubs. A product of Stella Maris, he also had stints at Drogheda United and St Patrick\u2019s Athletic, after a period with Middlesbrough as a teenager.<\/p>\n
![\"colin-healy\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772217069_683_.jpeg\")
\n Colin Healy was Eileen Gleeson’s assistant. Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Cronin is familiar with another Ireland predecessor, Colin Healy, from their time coaching in the League of Ireland. Healy\u2019s exit in December 2024 was acrimonious, with an ugly back-and-forth unfolding between himself and the FAI.<\/p>\n
Cronin hasn\u2019t spoken to the Healy about the job, but plans to do so after this international window, and says the former number two has \u201cset a high bar\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked if Healy\u2019s contentious departure made him wary about getting involved, Cronin said: \u201cNo, because there\u2019s been a gap in between that. For me, it\u2019s in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, that\u2019s Colin\u2019s situation. When we played against each other as managers, we had a really, really good relationship and really, really good tactical battles. He\u2019s 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\u2019d be an advocate of.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to be perfectly honest, I wouldn\u2019t have put much thought to that given the distance. If that happened a couple of months ago, there\u2019d probably be more engagement in relation to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is huge respect from the girls for Colin. Having played against him for a couple of seasons, I can understand why. He\u2019s a respected and a loved coach, for want of a better phase. He has set a high bar for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"jasmine-mander-carla-ward-and-gary-cronin\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772217070_943_.jpeg\")
\n Jasmine Mander (left) with Ward and Cronin at training this morning. Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Cronin isn\u2019t the only new face in the Ireland set-up this week. Jasmine Mander, one of the Canadian staffers who was sacked over a drone \u2018spying\u2019 controversy at the 2024 Olympic Games, has been photographed at training and has reportedly joined Ward\u2019s staff as a performance analyst after serving a year-long Fifa ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, to be perfectly honest with you and I won\u2019t tell you a lie, it\u2019s over the last 24 hours I really got the full detail on that because it\u2019s a new job for me,\u201d said Cronin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fully focused on myself and what I have to do. Jasmine is an excellent, excellent coach and she has unbelievable experience, and that\u2019s all I\u2019ve been focused on so far. But I\u2019m aware of what\u2019s come to light in relation to Jasmine, and Carla\u2019s going to address that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really want to get into the details of talking about something I\u2019m not fully abreast of. What I will say is I\u2019ve been working with Jasmine now since I\u2019ve come into the job and she\u2019s excellent. She\u2019s a really, really good person as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FAI are yet to announce the appointment. Ward is due to speak to the media on Monday ahead of Tuesday\u2019s clash with France at Tallaght Stadium as the new campaign begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been studying France, Holland and Poland for so long now, they\u2019re in my dreams at this stage,\u201d Cronin smiles. \u201cThey\u2019re high-level opponents. But that\u2019s where Ireland want to be. Ireland want to be in those groups, to compete with the best and it\u2019ll only make the girls better. It\u2019ll make us better as coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we achieve our goal. Our objective, obviously, is to get to the World Cup.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Duffy Reports from FAI HQ THIS IS SOMEWHAT uncharted territory for new Ireland assistant coach Gary Cronin.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1128,149178,61,60,149179,43,3405],"class_list":["post-320506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-football","tag-gary-cronin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irland-wnt","tag-news","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n