Championship club Swansea have appointed Athlone native Alan Sheehan as permanent head coach on a three-year contract following a successful spell in caretaker charge.
The 38-year-old has picked up 23 points from a possible 36 since taking over on a temporary basis in mid-February after the departure of Luke Williams.
The Welsh side were 17th in the Sky Bet Championship – eight points above the relegation zone – when Williams left the club on the back of seven defeats in nine matches.
Ahead of Saturday's season finale at home to Oxford, the 11th-placed Swans, whose five-match winning run was ended by Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Millwall, are guaranteed a top-half finish.
"It’s a privilege to be at this football club and now I’ve the honour of officially being head coach, it’s somewhat surreal," Sheehan told Swansea’s website.
"There’s been a really good feeling around the place.
"I’ve spoken over the last couple of months about building something. I’ve been in talks with the ownership for a good while now. Now’s a really good time to move forward with it."
Sheehan's confirmation makes him the only head coach from the Republic of Ireland in either of the top two tiers in English football. Fermanagh man Kieran McKenna is in charge of Ipswich Town, who will be relegated to the Championship for next season.
There are two in League One; Noel Hunt's Reading are in play-off contention while Conor Hourihane was appointed boss of mid-table Barnsley earlier this month.
In League Two. another ex-international, Mark Kennedy, was sacked by Swindon in October while Grant McCann, who won 39 caps for Northern Ireland, manages Doncaster Rovers.
Sheehan made over 400 appearances in England as a left-back, making his professional debut with Leicester City in 2003 before notable spells with Leeds United, Notts County and Luton Town. He earned five Ireland U21 caps.
He started his management career as a player-coach with Oldham in 2022 before spells under Nathan Jones at Luton and Southampton.
He joined Swansea in the summer of 2023 as an assistant to Michael Duff and, following the sacking of Duff in December of that year, secured 11 points from seven games in an initial stint as caretaker boss before the arrival of Williams in January 2024.
Swansea director of football Richard Montague said: "We’ve been very impressed with Alan since he’s taken over as caretaker head coach for a second time.
"It was important that we carried out a thorough and detailed process for appointing our new head coach.
"We had to get this decision right and we are very happy with the work that’s been done and confident that we’ve picked the best head coach to take our club to the next level."
Additional reporting: PA
