Cork City 1 Longford Town 0:  Damien Richardson delivered FAI Cup joy for Cork City but the trophy will not be enough to keep him in a job.  Rumours circulated pre-match that the club's new board had wielded the axe. Post game, Richardson refused to confirm his departure but suggested he had, indeed, overseen his last Cork City game. It is understood his backroom staff have stood down in support.

"I've never been one to spoil a good rumour so I'll leave it circulate a bit longer," he said of his position following the 1-0 win delivered via Denis Behan's second-half diving header.   "I think it's only right the next statement comes from the club.  There are procedures that have to be adhered to.

"Football is about footballers and supporters so I don't want the headlines to be about myself, I want the headlines about the players and the supporters. The game is not about managers....I need a rest, I need to get away for a bit. I've had one week holiday in two years, I need a break. After that, I don't know what's on the horizon."
 
Contractual disputes at Cork dominated the headlines during the week.  Four players are still left hanging, uncertain of their futures and deeply frustrated and angered as a result.  That figure would have been greater only for a smattering of fresh deals being tied up midweek.

As captain Dan Murray suggested minutes after lifting the trophy, the player's performance was just that; a performance for the players and two fingers to the board.

"We've tried to put it to the back of our minds," he said of the stand-off. "We're not happy with the board and they're probably not happy with us.

"But I don't think any other Cork manager has won the league and cup in three years," he said of Richardson.  "It's all about winning trophies. That's what Damien's told to do.  If the board's not happy with that then there's something wrong with the board and not the gaffer."

These two sides endured frustrating campaigns for very different reasons.  But while Cork, saved face with victory, Longford disbands to First Division wilderness following a depressing year. Cork's league campaign petered out to nothing.  They flattered to deceive late on but slumped to fourth.  This victory, though, secures the European and Setanta Cup football that had eluded them.

Atrocious conditions ensured a difficult afternoon's work for both sides.  Howling winds and wintry showers threatened to wreak havoc yet players adapted well.  Longford, with the wind advantage in the first half, mixed their play; spraying ball from flank to flank while also bombarding the Cork rearguard with high balls.

Strikers Dave Mooney and Dessie Baker were well served with either approach and were lively from the first whistle.  Baker, in particular, showed neatness of touch with time on the ball and his clever distribution initially put Longford on the front foot.  But his enforced withdrawal early in the second half - despite receiving half-time injections to a thigh strain - unhinged his team.

Wingers Jamie Duffy and Robbie Martin had also put the shoulder to the wheel.  Together the quartet teased and tormented, yet found Michael Devine alert to every danger.  Indeed, the goalkeeper needed to be clued in as neither Dan Murray nor Barry O'Callaghan were particularly in tune in the opening exchanges.

Playing into such a strong wind it was no surprise that Cork opted to work the ball short from defence, yet stray passing caught them out on more than one occasion.

Mooney and Baker were always on hand to capitalise on a wayward ball.  Just 12 minutes in, the latter timed his run to Damien Brennan's cross superbly only for the covering Cillian Lordan to make a crucial intervention.

Cork, though, were certainly no bystanders and attacked with pace once unshackled.  They took time to settle but Joe Gamble soon commanded midfield and his distribution was always intelligent.

Liam Kearney and Leon McSweeney were keen to attack out wide and saw plenty of ball as a result.  Full back Pat Sullivan often had Kearney's measure but McSweeney saw profit in his tussle with Sean Prunty.

Nevertheless, the strong winds rendered precise crossing redundant and Longford goalkeeper Shay Kelly commanded his area with authority.  Team-mates in front of him, however, were not always as assured.  When Brennan miscued a clearance, Longford were fortunate to scramble Kearney's week cross-cum-shot to safety as Kelly was committed.

Longford were frustrated to go in scoreless at the break. Not that their work, or indeed their approach, was particularly impressive, but rather they failed to make the most of the considerable wind advantage.

Devine, though, played his hand in holding Matthews' men at bay - not least when making a smart reaction save to deny Duffy from close range after Robbie Martin flashed a cross into the danger area.

Cork were a different animal at the break.  While the winds eased somewhat, the Leesiders allowed their football do the talking.

Striker John O'Flynn, his season once again disrupted by injury, profited when dropping deep.  He linked play superbly, allowing strike partner Behan to gallop forward into promising positions.  And from one such instance, on the hour, Cork edged ahead.

Murray's looping ball flummoxed the Longford defence and allowed O'Flynn race down the left flank.  His subsequent cross was brilliantly executed and Behan dived low to thunder home a header.

That strike was a punch in the guts for Longford who, without Baker, struggled to generate the momentum required to pull level.

Cork, in turn, should have trebled their lead inside the final 10 minutes.  First, Behan battered the cross bar from 12 yards and moments later O'Flynn did likewise from even closer in.  And, to compound Longford's, misery, Sullivan was sent off in the dying stages for a rash challenge on McSweeney.

Matthews insists he has "no problem" managing in the First Division.  Should he stay on, he'll be working with fresh faces as the majority of his players now move on in search of new clubs. The Cork squad, too, will almost certainly be working with a fresh face as - rightly or wrongly - the curtain falls on Richardson's reign.

Cork City:  Devine; Lordan, O'Callaghan, Murray, Woods (O'Brien 67); McSweeneyt, Gamble, Healy, Kearney (Farrelly 85); O'Flynn, Behan.

Longford Town: Kelly, Sullivan, Brennan, Doherty, Prunty; Duffy (Reilly 77), Doyle, Rutherford, Martin; Mooney, Baker (Wexler 56).
 
Referee:  D McKeon (Dublin)