Former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy has stepped down as Republic of Ireland manager with immediate effect, the Football Association of Ireland has confirmed.
Ireland's U21 manager Stephen Kenny has stepped up to take charge of the senior team.
McCarthy's contract was due to expire at the end of July and Kenny had already been chosen as his successor.
But with all domestic and European football suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ireland's qualification play-off game aganst Slovakia has been postponed, as have the Euro 2020 finals themselves.
And that meant the original plan for McCarthy to hand over the reins after overseeing a possible Euros campaign this summer has gone by the wayside, with the transition brought forward.
Kenny will now oversee the play-off game when it is rescheduled, and at the finals in 2021 if they get through.
A statement released by the FAI confirmed: "The Football Association of Ireland announces that Mick McCarthy is to be succeeded as national team manager by Stephen Kenny with immediate effect.
"The handover has been agreed with both men in light of the delay to the European Championship play-offs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic."
McCarthy took over for a second stint as Ireland manager in 2018, having previously managed his country between 1996 and 2002.
The 61-year-old spent three years in charge at Sunderland between 2003 and 2006, before going on to manage Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town.
