A last-minute difference between candidate and club over employment terms prevented Paul Doolan from landing the manager's job at Oriel Park on Saturday with the club's long-time striker Terry Eviston returning instead to take the position for the forthcoming season.

Doolan was reportedly on the way to the ground for a midday press conference when he heard that his appointment had not been ratified by a meeting of the club's board while Eviston is said to have been at a game in Clonshaugh when he received a call from a club official offering him the post.

The exact nature of the disagreement between the board and Doolan was the centre of a minor difference of opinion yesterday, but Eviston was scarcely complaining for it means that he will get another crack at management and at a club where, during seven years as a player, he won two league titles and a cup winners' medal.

The new man, who will be assisted by Ollie Ralph and Tommy Connolly, faces a difficult couple of months before the start of the club's first season in the First Division with many of the better players expected to leave Oriel Park and little money available to bring in replacements.

Nevertheless, the 41-year-old was upbeat about the task facing him over the weekend, saying that his season working with Roddy Collins at Bohemians had given him a new hunger for management and that he was looking forward to doing everything he could to bring success and the crowds back to Oriel Park.