Alan Kelly joins Mick McCarthy’s backroom team

Alan Kelly is back in the Ireland set-up after Mick McCarthy recruited his former stopper as goalkeeping coach.

The 50-year-old won the majority of his 34 caps during McCarthy’s original stint in charge of Ireland and went on to serve as goalkeeping coach between 2006-2013 under the reigns of Steve Staunton and Giovanni Trapattoni.

That run was halted by the arrival of Martin O’Neill, who reluctantly released him to draft into another ex-Ireland goalkeeper Seamus McDonagh, a close ally he’d played with and worked alongside at Sunderland.

With O’Neill and his entire staff sacked by the FAI a fortnight ago, McCarthy brought in Terry Connor, his loyal assistant from spells at Wolves and Ipswich Town, and former striker Robbie Keane, as his assistants. The final piece of his inner circle is now complete.

Shay Given and Dean Kiely, working at Crystal Palace and Derby County respectively, were the others under consideration to fill the vacancy but McCarthy has opted for Kelly due to his previous experience of the role.

He will fuse his new international duties with the current role of U23 goalkeeping coach he holds at Everton.

“I’ve spoken to Alan Kelly about the job because he’s excellent,” said the Ireland manager, now back in the Ireland hot-seat nine days. “I know Alan well and he knows me well. There may be something else I want to add but I’ll speak to the people first.”

Another of his trusted lieutenants, Dave Bowman, is likely to be one of those additions. He worked as McCarthy’s chief scout during his first spell with Ireland, shadowing him throughout his jobs over the next 16 years ago at Sunderland, Wolves, and Ipswich Town.

Although Bowman remained at Ipswich following McCarthy’s exit in April, he could opt to reunite with McCarthy.

The new Ireland boss will discover on Friday the venue for his first match against Gibraltar on March 23.

Gibraltar had to use Faro as their venue for the Euro ’16 qualifier against Ireland in September 2015 but the basement side in seedings amongst Uefa’s 55 nations want to stage this fixture on home soil.

They cite the use of Victoria Stadium, holding a capacity of just 2,000, for their recent Nations League games against Macedonia, Liechtenstein, and Armenia as evidence of its suitability.

However, unlike those three nations, the demand of Irish fans to witness the first game of the new era will far outstrip the 100 tickets (5%) which Gibraltar are obliged to provide.

Ticket distribution for away games has developed into a thorny topic for the FAI in recent years, particularly for the Euro ’16 qualifier in Scotland four years ago.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Preston North End striker Callum Robinson is being linked with a move to Premier League Bournemouth during the upcoming January transfer window.