Constrained run-in to September a 'worry' for whoever next Ireland manager proves to be - Paul Corry

The lack of time the next Republic of Ireland manager will get before tackling a daunting start to the UEFA Nations League is the biggest concern going forward as the wait for an appointment gets set to stretch beyond the summer, according to former Sheffield Wednesday, UCD and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Paul Corry.

On Friday, the FAI's director of football Marc Canham issued an apology to Boys in Green supporters and confirmed that a permanent successor to Stephen Kenny will not be in place until the lead in to the UEFA Nations League which will kick off with a fixture against England on 7 September.

That means, just like in March, the June friendly window will have to be led by an interim head coach, with John O'Shea the favoured candidate to take the reins again.

The new September deadline also means that the Irish men's senior team won't have had a permanent manager for about ten months.

Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast about the new timeline imposed on the convoluted process, ex-Ireland Under-17 international Corry expressed a degree of sympathy for Canham but pointed out that not giving the next manager a prior window to bed in ideas will make it difficult to start September's competitive schedule on the right footing.

"I'm actually starting to feel a little bit for Marc Canham," he said. "I'd imagine what's happened here is that somebody has maybe verbally agreed to take the job and then has maybe burned him further down the line and that timeline he put on himself has actually come back to shoot himself in the foot.

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

"So I do have a little bit of sympathy for Marc Canham and the FAI, in the sense of that situation, but also