More questions than answers as Eileen Gleeson leaves spotlight

And so the dream has curdled and soured for Eileen Gleeson.

It's almost exactly a year since the FAI decided that the 52-year-old was the standout choice among the 42 candidates who’d applied for the job.

Now she’s gone, failing to earn a new contract after the Republic of Ireland’s bitterly disappointing Euro 2025 play-off final defeat to Wales.

In December 2023, Gleeson was sincere when she described getting the role on a permanent basis as "the proudest and most humbling moment of my life".

But the Dubliner wasn’t born yesterday. She had left her gig as head of women’s and girls’ football knowing full well there was a risk things would go pear-shaped.

It was shrewd and pragmatic to insist on having a clause inserted into her contract that gives her the option to stay in employment with the FAI in some capacity, though what exactly she’ll be doing is unclear.

The FAI insist Gleeson will not return to the head of women’s and girls’ football position, which is currently filled by Welsh native Hannah Dingley.

Dingley started that job last May after a drawn-out recruitment process. There were reports that the FAI changed the role from being a permanent position to a fixed-term appointment, with some candidates consequently dropping out of the race.

Many joined the dots and assumed the door was being kept ajar for Gleeson to go back to her old job after the Euros campaign, but Dingley looks likely to stay on until at least early summer, so if Gleeson is to hang around the Sport Ireland Campus, they’ll need a plan to utilise her.

They also need to get moving on finding a new head coach.

Ireland begin their Nations League campaign on 21 February against Turkey, travelling to Slovenia four days later. It’s possible they’ll appoint an