Republic of Ireland General Discussion Thread 2026

Nobody will replace what Coleman brings to the team.

Mick was a dinosaur, Kenny was out of his depth. Pick your poison.

certainly would have had Mick over Kenny for the playoff vs Slovakia considering in his first year in charge we scored 1 goal in 8 matches

Mick left us in a far healthier place than Kenny. Having to hope two results go our way to get a home draw because of our woeful rankings.

I don't think he was mistake. The FAI's finances were wiped out by John Delaney, first of all. Secondly, the team had had two fairly well-known and highly-paid managers previously and there was this feeling that their heart wasn't entirely in the job, taking a big pay packet to play a conservative style of football that perhaps didn't meet the full potential of the team.

Kenny would take a smaller wage, with a promise that he'd build the team back toward a more progressive and open style of attacking play. Irish fans seemed to accept that this would take some time and nobody got too hard on his back early on. Kenny had some hype around him due to his work at Dundalk, and Michael O'Neill, another LoI alumnus had really turned around the fortunes of the north, so there was this idea that even an LoI level manager could lead an international senior team to good results.

It was a well-meaning project that we were mostly ready to allow some time to. It didn't work out as the players just weren't there and/or Kenny was tactically out of his depth.

If nothing else, Kenny's tenure would shut up the 'play some fkn football' merchants for a while.

Also, for those banging on about seedings/rankings.

For Euro 2020 qualifying, ie Mick McCarthy's term - we were third seeds.

Kenny left the job with Ireland as… third seeds.

Like I said, a complete rewriting of history and f*ck all of it based on any kind of fact.

Still Pot 3, but a worse Pot 3.

2020 qualifying they were pots of 10, and we were in Pot 3 as 23rd seed.

2026 qualifying (current) there were pots of 12 so if we had maintained 23rd seed we would be in Pot 2. But we had fallen even lower to be in Pot 3 ranked #28.

Which is not to blame Kenny. A dismal Nations League campaign by O'Neill put us in Pot 3 initially, MMC had a horrible Euro 2020 qualifying campaign where we flukily backed into a play-off, Kenny did what he did and there was no improvement, and HH had a poor initial Nations League as well.

Just so I'm clear then.

We were in Pot 3 when he took over and then Pot 3 when he left. Fair to say this tanking the rankings is hyperbole

Also, we got into a play-off because of that dismal Nations League where we got 2 points out of 12 and finished bottom of our group. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything Mick did.

Also, fast forward to that play-off and we should have won that. It wasn't SK's fault either that Conor Hourihane missed an open goal in Slovakia.

Not a go at you personally because you actually had the manners to at least make sure you knew what you were talking about.

Also, this isn't a praise SK type post, it's in response to those who seem to think Mick was grand when it was an utterly atrocious term. There is zero evidence Mick would have won that play-off against Slovakia based on the turgid crap he subjected us to.

There was an obnoxious arrogance among a large cohort of Irish fans that a team mixed with old has-beens and young players who needed to be parachuted in was going to achieve anything. These fans couldn't be told that it wasn't going to happen right away (granted it should have been better by the end of the SK reign but confidence among the players was completely shot by then). Now, these players have now won 30+ caps and many of the young lads have developed into fine Premier League/upper Championship players and these same people think Heimer's a miracle worker.

I've maintained from the outset that whoever took over from SK would be thankful for him because, regardless of what anyone says here, there's no manager of the Mick mould that would have brought in those players at the rate SK did.

No doubt "Pot 3" will be the same "Pot 3" reality be damned.

his team scored one goal in his first eight games. Martin O’Neill’s tenure ended with a similar record but he got the sack. The fai were skint at the time and gate receipts were good under Kenny so he served a purpose in that way. He brought through Ogbene and Bazunu. All the other players were not up to the level or absolutely obvious to bring through. We dropped about 20 places in our fifa ranking.

It didn’t go well. Let’s move on.

A lot of spin going on here regarding SK. Here's the Fifa rankings for the start and end of his reign, the stain that it was.

Ireland Fifa ranking April 2020 was 34.

Ireland Fifa ranking in Nov 2023 was 60.

Are there any fixtures that we want to go out way tonight?

North Macedonia to draw or beat Wales in Wales. Wales are 8/11 favourites to win on Tuesday

Austria to draw or beat Bosnia in Austria. Bosnia are 7/1to win. Match is on Tuesday.

Both results are required for Ireland to be in Pot 2

So what happens next for the Irish men's team. This does,

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2025/11/17/world-cup-playoff-draw-what-needs-to-happen-for-ireland-to-make-pot-2-on-thursday/

Its all explained in there

Say if Hungary scored in the 96 min a lot of us would just give up