Dolan not ruled out as City manager

CORK CITY chairman Brian Lennox last night refused to rule Pat Dolan out as a candidate for the vacant position of manager of the club, even as St Patrick’s Athletic offered him a new contract.

Dolan appears to be the most prized manager in the National League with reports that he is considering which of three contract offers to accept from St Pats, Cork City and from an unnamed English club.

He was unavailable for contact yesterday, but St Pats revealed they expect a decision on their offer before tomorrow. Cork City predicted that they will reveal the identity of their new manager at midday tomorrow.

"We will proceed with our press conference on Friday at midday at which we will introduce the new Cork City manager," said Mr Lennox.

"But the advertisement we placed inviting applications for the job specified February 20 as the closing date, so anyone still has until midnight on Thursday to apply for the vacancy.

"I will not make a decision on the matter until the deadline is passed, but I am satisfied that we will have a new manager in place by Friday. Until then I'm not going to rule anybody in or rule anybody out."

Mr Lennox confirmed he had interviewed Dolan for the position. He said the interview had gone very well.

"The contract terms we have put on the table are very attractive for any manager. We have offered a three-year contract at terms to compare with any available at any Irish club because we want to appoint the right man."

Meanwhile, Dolan had a meeting with St Pats' directors on Tuesday and it was revealed that a new investor was waiting in the wings to invest 500,000 in the club provided Dolan was installed as football manager.

That potential investor was identified as Dublin builder Mick Wallace and sources went so far as to suggest that he might look to invest in Cork City if Dolan secured that position.

In the absence of confirmation from Dolan, however, that can only be a matter of speculation and the City chairman was not in a mood to share any information on this possibility.

Meanwhile, St Pats chairman Andy O'Callaghan was in England yesterday on business and he said he was unaware of the speculation in the Irish newspapers "Pat has been a great manager for St Pats and we want to keep him. We have made him a substantial offer and we expect to learn of his decision within 48 hours."

With the focus on the manager's position, City last night signed centre-back Dan Murray and midfielder Alan Reynolds to new contracts for the next two seasons.

Murray, 20, joined Cork last season on loan from Peterborough United. He was recommended to Cork by John O'Flynn, who returned to his native Cobh and joined Cork at the start of the season from Peterborough.

Murray scored on his debut for Cork in an FAI Cup tie against Finn Harps and was a regular in the team for the second half of the season.

Cork's technical director Liam Murphy completed negotiations with the defender when he returned to Cork this week after spending a couple of weeks on holiday in England.

Reynolds was signed by Murphy at the beginning of last season after spells with his native Waterford and Longford Town.

The 28-year-old midfielder ended talks yesterday to extend his contract by a year, so he will remain a Cork player for the next two years.