Stephen Kelly believes the Republic of Ireland players are capable of delivering improved performances and results under a new manager after the FAI announced it would not be offering Stephen Kenny a new contract.

The Boys in Green ended their 2023 with a lacklustre 1-1 draw against New Zealand on Tuesday night, with the manager admitting afterwards that it may have been his final game in charge.

That proved to be the case as less than 24 hours later, the decision was confirmed after a meeting and a presentation to the FAI board by CEO Jonathan Hill and director of football Marc Canham.

Kenny replaced Mick McCarthy as manager in April 2020, but has presided over 17 losses from his 40 games in charge.

Former international Kelly said it was difficult watching a clearly emotional Kenny speak to the media following the New Zealand match, but that the 52-year-old can have few complaints.

"It's been coming a while now," he said. "The results just haven’t been good enough. It’s not even against the likes of France and Netherlands, it’s against the teams that we feel we should be competing against, the likes of Greece, Armenia, Luxembourg over the course of the three years of his tenure.

"Dropping points against those nations, losing to those nations, we never had a fighting chance of qualifying for a major tournament."

The former Spurs, Birmingham City and Fulham defender said that while there was no doubting Kenny's commitment to the Irish cause, something had to give after just six competitive victories under his watch.

Stephen Kenny succeeded Mick McCarthy in the Irish hotseat

"We are in a worse off position than what we were when he took over football-wise, but there is no doubt about his commitment and energy. He went into it wholeheartedly, but it hasn’t worked," Kelly said.

A number of names have been linked with the vacancy, from Damien Duff and Lee Carsley, to more experienced managers such as Neil Lennon and Steve Bruce.

It is likely to boil down to budget and attractiveness as far as the FAI is concerned regarding Kenny's replacement, with the 39-cap international sure that some groundwork has already been laid by the association.

"I would like to think that the FAI has been pre-planning," Kelly said. "We have all seen this coming. We knew the writing was on the wall and he wasn't going to get his contract renewed, so the FAI would have started to put things in place and put feelers out, see who is interested in the job.

"It’s an appealing job. Financially it’s not going to be what it was before because the FAI don’t have the finances to back that, but it’s still a massive job.

"There are a crop of players there that someone will feel they can get a tune out of, make them extremely competitive. It’s about getting confidence back into the team and there are a lot of people that will feel they can do that."

Kenny's total commitment to playing an adventurous brand of football was seen as naive in some quarters, and Kelly feels the next person in charge doesn't need to stick or twist when it comes to a tactical gameplan.

For Ireland to progress he argues, the team simply cannot stick resolutely to one style.

"You can overplay at times. Stephen when he first came in, there were a lot of games when we were getting pressure put on us and we were conceding possession in our own half.

"It seemed very risky and we went slightly away from that, even though it was a possession-based game.

"There has to be a happy medium between both."

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.