Cork to unveil old boss as new manager

In the wake of Pat Dolan's dramatic departure from the club on Tuesday night, Damien Richardson is set to be unveiled as Cork City's new manager at a press conference in the city tomorrow.

The former Gillingham, Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers boss, who spent a season and a half at Turner's Cross in the early 1990s, had what he described as "a very positive" telephone conversation with club chairman Brian Lennox yesterday morning.

Richardson will sit down for face-to-face talks with the Cork-based businessman this afternoon.

"I wouldn't want to tempt fate here," Richardson said last night, "but the signs so far have been good and hopefully we will be able to do business together. Obviously I'm very excited by the prospect of being involved with the club again."

Under-21 coach Stuart Ashton will be in charge for this afternoon's friendly with Limerick, but the new regime is expected to be in place by tomorrow evening. Liam Murphy and John Caulfield are being widely linked with the assistant manager's job.

Richardson previously left City back in late 1994 while the club was top of the Premier Division table after a row with then-chairman Pat O'Donovan over expenditure on players.

He had taken charge of the team in July 1993 and had led the side to second place in the league during his only full season in charge. He subsequently had a long spell in charge at Shelbourne where he enjoyed considerable cup success but ultimately paid the price for failing to deliver a league title.

Dolan, meanwhile, could not be contacted yesterday, but continues to be linked with a move to Limerick where, it is said, his role would be primarily on the commercial side. He still had a year remaining on his contract with City and is said to be intent on pressing for a settlement to cover the estimated €70,000 that he would have earned during the next 12 months.

Lennox yesterday defended his decision to sack the former St Patrick's Athletic boss, remarking: "He achieved some fantastic things and we'll never forget the Inter-Toto Cup, but in recent months my relationship with him deteriorated.

"Some of his methods certainly wouldn't have appealed to me, and so, in terms of the direction that the club was taking, I just felt that now was the right time for a change."

Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens, meanwhile, has welcomed a suggestion by the authors of the Athens Review that the Sports Council invest in getting an Irish football team to the next Olympics.

The report recommends that the international carding scheme, which previously applied only to individual athletes, be extended to teams, and specifically identifies the Irish under-21 and Paralympic football teams as having the potential to justify additional investment by winning places at their respective Games.

A reappraisal of the Olympics football competition is, as it happens, under way, with a reduction in the age of participants one of the options reportedly under consideration.

There is also the possibility that the qualifying process will be substantially reorganised.

But Givens said yesterday, "If there was to be extra money available then you can never have enough games, although, to be fair, the FAI couldn't be said to do too badly on that front."