Sue Ronan To Step Down As Irish Boss
Sue Ronan will step down as Republic of Ireland manager in November to focus on her role as Head of Women's Football for the FAI.
Ronan has been charge of the women's senior team since taking over from Noel King back in 2010.
She guided them through three qualifying campaigns finishing fourth in the Euro 2013 qualifiers, third in the 2015 World Cup campaign behind Germany and Russia and fourth in the Euro 2017 qualifiers.
Ronan said today that it was an honour to manage the national side and believes that the current crop can go on to achieve good things.
"I feel with the experience we now have in this squad, along with the quality of youngsters currently on our underage teams, the future looks very bright and will ultimately lead us to that goal of playing amongst the elite of Europe at a major finals.
"In my role as Head of Women's Football I will be striving to put the structures in place that are absolutely necessary for this team to take that next step, so it's an exciting chapter in my career."
The FAI gave an outline of what Ronan's new job will entail.
"This new role, which was introduced last year as part of major changes to the governance and organisation of women's football, will allow Ronan to concentrate fully on ensuring the delivery of all the objectives of the FAI Women's Strategic Plan."
FAI High Performance Director Ruud Dokter paid tribute to Ronan and believes that her contribution to the Women's Senior Team has been significant over recent years.
"I would like to firstly thank Sue for her excellent work over the last number of years.
"She developed the Women's Team to a professional standard and I want to congratulate her for the impact that she continues to have on Women's football in Ireland.
"Sue works hard to improve all aspects of what is required to represent Ireland at international level and that work has provided a benchmark for all young players to aspire to.
"Sue is a big influence in all areas of Women's football and I look forward to working more closely with her to help achieve the aims set out in the FAI Women's Strategic Plan."