No fairytale end to Murphy’s reign

Cork City 0 UCD 1

He will continue with Cork in a newly created position of technical director.

Cork surrendered their unbeaten home record in the competition in the final match and lost their remaining chance of a place in Europe. Shamrock Rovers' win made that an impossibility on the day, but Cork were not to know that until after the final whistle.

Their reaction was in marked contrast to a UCD squad celebrating their win with exuberance in the certain knowledge the three points they gained made their position in the top flight secure. In fact UCD finished sixth in the table, just six points

behind Cork.

Murphy and chairman Brian Lennox were applauded in the Cork dressing room as they complimented the players on their efforts for the

season. The chairman later expressed his high regard for the manager.

"He has been in league football for 22 years and he is respected wherever football is played in this country.

"He has brought a young team a long way this season and perhaps his biggest achievement is in maintaining the good mood in the dressing room where everybody is part of the team."

Murphy took charge of Cork City two and a half seasons ago after serving as assistant manager to Derek Mountfield and, prior to that, to Dave Barry.

He had a long career as a player and after yesterday's match he explained he was stepping down because he

believed Cork needed a full-time manager.

"I was offered the post on a full-time basis but I can't take it

because there are a lot of things going on in my life," he said.

"I've decided to accept the position as technical director because I've

the club at heart, and with the new

licensing scheme we need as many bodies as we can get working for the club.

"The most important thing for the club is to get in a manager to bring along these very good young lads I brought to the club. The players we need to get in means we need to look at full-timers. We have to aim for a full-time set-up to take this club to

another level.

"And also I feel we under-achieved this season. I set myself a target to qualify for Europe this season and didn't get it. I don't think that's good enough."

Murphy's assessment of Cork's

season was clearly honest and those who watched a poor match against UCD will echo his assessment of

under-achievement. This was a new Cork team, peopled by young players new to league football, but Murphy made it clear his ambitions for Cork City are to achieve success sooner rather than later.

"I wanted to qualify for Europe

because it would have been fabulous for the young lads who came in this season. But it was the Inter-Toto we were chasing and I don't think that's up to much. We want to be aiming for the UEFA Cup at least. We have to be challenging for trophies and if we do we will fill this stadium every home match."

Murphy is qualified as a coach (Level 3) and he confirmed he would

return to team management in the

future.

"It is a bit of a sad day to be stepping down, but my new post is not a case of jobs for the boys. There's much work here to be done all the coaches in the club need to come up another

level, we have youths and U17 teams in the club and we need another

under-age team as well." Cork looked a tired team against an enthusiastic and well-drilled UCD squad who defended with stern

resourcefulness. Clive Delaney was a rock at the heart of the UCD defence and they scarcely allowed a predictable Cork a clear-cut shot on goal.

The decisive goal came after 43 minutes and, in a sense, it summed up the difference between the teams. Cork were caught in disarray in the most predictable of situations while defending a corner kick. Alan Cawley struck the corner with superb accuracy from the left-wing and Alan Gallen was alert as he rose near the penalty spot to head powerfully home. A delighted UCD manager Paul Doolin said: "You're judged on your results over a season and while we struggled to get results early on I knew these lads had it in them. People might think we have escaped, we haven't, we deserved what we got."