City: No rush to find boss

Cork City say they will not be rushed into securing a permanent replacement for Tommy Dunne, as U19 coach Stuart Ashton prepares to take over as caretaker manager for today’s FAI Cup tie against Kilbarrack United.

The decision to sack Dunne was effectively taken before Friday night’s 2-1 defeat to Limerick, following which the manager was told by City chairman Mick Ring that his contract was being terminated.

Already, according to club officials, there have been a couple of expressions of interest in the position but they have refused to confirm or deny any names at this early stage. But reports have former Sligo Rovers, Bohemians, Dundalk and Galway United manager Sean Connor as one early candidate.

“We’ll take it one step at a time,” said chairman Ring. “We’ll do everything slowly, take advice and then we’ll do it once and we’ll do it right.”

Ring described the decision to let Tommy Dunne go as “agonising”, adding, “I won’t lie, it’s been the worst weekend of my life.”

However, insisting that City had not made a rash move in firing the man who led them back into the top-flight two seasons ago, the chairman said: “It wasn’t a decision made on a whim, it had been thought out long and hard. It wasn’t made on the back of one result. No board ever wants to make that decision and no chairman ever wants to have to tell the manager. But it was definitely not a panic measure or a knee-jerk reaction.

“The board make various decisions but the common denominator is that it’s always in the best interests of the club.

“It’s also very important to say that Tommy is an exceptionally decent man who did amazing things for this club and that he’ll always be a friend of Cork City and he’ll always be welcome back at Turner’s Cross.”

Bitterly disappointed but not remotely bitter, would seem to just about sum up the feelings of the man who has lost his job.

Dunne said: “I’d like to think that people would see that the club, from the time I stepped in, until now, there’s no comparison. And that’s down to a lot of hard work by a lot of people. And all I would wish for them is the best. It wouldn’t be a case of, now that I’m gone, I don’t care what happens. As a League of Ireland man, to see Cork City doing well would give me pleasure. I wouldn’t be bitter in any way, shape or form.”

Nevertheless, the Dubliner is understandably deflated at the manner of his departure and believes that he could still have turned around a thus far disappointing season at Turner’s Cross.

“Whether people think it’s a rash decision or not, if you’re not winning games these things are going to come about,” he said. “I’m just disappointed with the way the season went because it looked promising at the start. A few dodgy results knocked a bit of the confidence and then we picked up a lot of injuries and were having to start relying on younger lads. We just didn’t have that consistency of players playing together and that can cause problems.

“We did a lot of work from 2010 on, and getting the club promoted was always my first objective. Last year was about stability and I thought we had enough in us to push on a little bit more this season. But I still thought we could have easily turned it around, to be honest.”