Republic of Ireland put decision over Mick McCarthy’s future on hold until June

Niall Quinn says any decision over the future of Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy will not be made until June.

The Football Association of Ireland’s interim deputy chief executive reacted after UEFA announced on Tuesday afternoon that the European Championship had been moved back to the summer of 2021.

It was decided in order to tackle the disruption to the football calendar caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Republic of Ireland were due to face Slovakia this month in a Euro 2020 play-off semi-final, with the winner to play either Northern Ireland or Bosnia in a battle to reach the summer tournament.

But the spread of Covid-19 postponed those fixtures and forced the Euro’s back 12 months, which impacts the future of boss McCarthy, who was set to leave his post in July and be replaced by Under-21 manager Stephen Kenny.

No decision will be made by the Football Association of Ireland until the play-off tie with Slovakia has been played, which is pencilled in to occur in June if the coronavirus pandemic is under control.

“I don’t think there is any point in trying to do something about that now,” Quinn told FAI TV.

“We are still in the position where we don’t know if we’re going to the Euro’s or not. We will know on June the 10th and June the 10th will be a good time to start worrying or overly worrying about that particular instance.

“We will do that at the right time and speak to the stakeholders first and won’t be talking publicly about that until the right time.”