Tiernan Lynch has left his position as Derry City manager by mutual consent after a poor run of form.

The Candystripes sit sixth in the Premier Division and have won just one of their past seven games.

The 50-year-old joined the side on a three-year deal in November 2024 from Larne, who won back-to-back Irish Premiership titles during his tenure.

"The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Tiernan for his professionalism, commitment and hard work during his time at Derry City," the club posted on social media following the news.

Despite making big signings such as former Republic of Ireland international James McClean during the off season, Derry have struggled to build on last season's second-place finish.

McClean has also since voiced his concerns since joining the club and said there was 'issue somewhere' at Derry City after they exited the Uefa Conference League at the second qualifying round.

The club have confirmed that Mark Connolly will become interim manager and is due to be in the dugout when Derry face Sligo on Friday, 7 August - a game to be shown live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport NI website.

Analysis: What went wrong for Lynch at Derry City?

James McClean was one of Lynch's high-profile signings at Derry City

An appointment that generated so much excitement but ultimately failed to deliver has come to an end.

After the impressive job Lynch did with the Inver Reds, there were high expectations for what he and his brother Seamus could achieve at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium and a belief they could deliver the silverware the club so crave.

Finishing just three points behind champions Shamrock Rovers and securing European football was considered a successful debut season for Lynch.

Expectations only grew for his second season after more high-profile signings including former Sunderland and Wrexham player McClean.

From the start of the season, however, it was clear the side were not building upon the previous campaign as they registered just nine points from their first 10 games.

The club's struggles continued on the European stage and they lost to CSKA Sofia in the Europa League qualifiers before being knocked out of the Conference League qualifiers by Rijeka following another lacklustre display - it was after the latter that Lynch said his players needed to be "braver".

As frustrations grew, injuries to key players such as Liam Boyce left the side short of attacking options for significant periods too.

Growing tensions around the squad have been evident and the outspoken McClean's social media posts of recent days when he spoke of "issues" at the club can only have created more friction.

While we will never know the true level of divide between the manager and the players, the relationship between both sides seemed increasingly strained and makes news of Lynch's departure less of a surprise.

It will be a tough task for whoever takes over to steady the ship this season.

Already 14 points behind the top three with 10 games to go, it looks highly unlikely that the club can secure European football through their league position.

However, the new manager will still have the potential of the FAI Cup to try and salvage something from this increasingly lost campaign.