Cork City officials are expected to issue a statement this morning confirming the departure of manager Derek Mountfield just six months after the Englishman took over at the club in the wake of Colin Murphy's surprise resignation.

Mountfield, who has 18 months remaining on his contract, spent much of yesterday negotiating with the club over the terms of a severance package. He reportedly arranged to meet players last night in order to say farewell.

The feeling amongst directors appeared to be that the former Everton star's position had been irreparably damaged by Sunday's defeat by St Patrick's Athletic, and it is believed that, after an emergency board meeting which actually started while the game was still in progress, he was asked to resign.

He refused, reportedly arguing strongly that he had not been given sufficient time in the job.

Meanwhile, FAI treasurer Brendan Menton said last night he was pleased with the way an hour-long meeting with the Taoiseach and Minister for Sport had gone in Dublin yesterday, but added that little specific detail had been gone into by either party.

Describing it as "a confirmation meeting", Menton said both Bertie Ahern and Dr McDaid had again been positive in their attitude towards exploring ways in which the planned National Stadium might be made a more attractive proposition to the association, although no specific offers were made.

"They made it clear once again that any boxes or 10 year seats that we sell for Eircom Park would be left as revenue to us," said Menton. "They also made it clear that they want to invest heavily in sport and that this is one way in which they intend to do it."