IT was the morning after the night before at Bishopstown as the Cork City staff reacted to the resignation of manager Colin Healy, just over six months after he lifted the First Division title with his players.

At the forefront of the questioning at the weekly press conference was new Sporting Director Liam Buckley, with his appointment announced just hours before Healy's decision became public.

He will now take charge of Friday's game against St Patrick's Athletic at Turner’s Cross alongside the remaining coaching staff, a group that includes Richie Holland. Buckley will also assist City owner Dermot Usher in appointing a new permanent manager.

All of that work is to come, the Sporting Director is now picking up the pieces and making sense of what happened during his first day at his new club in his new city.

The situation came as a shock to Buckley, who was coming down to Cork to work with Healy as manager.

“I spoke with his agent, and I spoke with Colin, with both of them about how important it was for Colin to stay.

“Again I have to stress, and we need to appreciate this from Colin’s point of view. I would have loved for him to stay here. I’m sure everybody at the club would have loved for him to stay here. Our owner wanted him to stay here.

It was just unfortunate. I know the timing of me coming in, but I’m coming in specifically for the role I expressed earlier on.” 

 That job is to act as the Sporting Director for the entirety of Cork City, and Buckley gave a brief insight into what that position entails.

“I spoke to Dermot about the Sporting Director role which is helping all the football side of the picture,” he explained.

“I have quite a bit of experience in that role. I would like to think that I will add something to the whole picture here."

STARK

Holland, who was with Healy through everything over the last few seasons, gave a stark assessment of the mood around the club over Healy’s decision.

“It’s been very low to be honest,” Holland said.

Colin is a legend at the club and what he has done over the last few years as manager here has been outstanding.

“To lose the man first of all and not just the coach, is a big miss around the place. A lot of the younger players around here would have come through with him at the academy.

“It is tough but this morning, training was good. Liam has come in and brought that enthusiasm. We had a good day in training.”