Richardson faces striking problem in rebuilding project

On Soccer: Having defied his critics last season by successfully guiding Cork City to the league title, Damien Richardson finds himself in an increasingly difficult position as he tries to oversee the club's defence of the championship.

Two more points dropped in Waterford on Saturday evening have made his task that much more difficult but a defeat at Shelbourne on Friday would go a long way towards ruling Cork out of the running for this year's top spot; something the Dubliners, fresh from their win over Drogheda United, will be keenly aware of.

The scale of Richardson's achievement last season when, after taking over virtually on the eve of the new season, he came close to seeing his side complete the double, should not be underestimated but neither should the challenge that now faces him as, he says, he seeks to help the club achieve its full potential.

The team he inherited from Pat Dolan was good but Richardson's impact upon the group was positive. For the most part they played attractive football, keeping it tight at the back while scoring plenty of goals.

The manager did well to cope with the aftermath of Dolan's departure and the loss of Kevin Doyle so early in the campaign. Ahead of the season's last game there were still those who questioned his side's right to be called the country's best but very few would have put up an argument after the way in which they beat Derry City.

Nine months on and things aren't quite so rosy. Liam Kearney and Greg O'Halloran have gone to Shelbourne, George O'Callaghan has become estranged - irreconcilably it seems - and, if Flann O'Brien's physics theories have anything to be said for them then John O'Flynn is at least a small part treatment table by now.

During the same period few signings have been made and none of the new arrivals has cleared the bar Richardson set - that whoever he brings in represents an improvement on what is already there.

Given Richardson's first XI were the best in the country last season that might have been aiming a little high but the Cork boss did need to replace the quality players lost to the side while getting in new bodies that were at least better than those he had on the bench. To date, he appears to have failed on both counts.

The thinness of the squad was highlighted dramatically against Red Star Belgrade when the problems were compounded by the loss to suspension of Danny Murphy, Joe Gamble and then, for the second leg, Dan Murray. In truth, though, there is no great shame in losing to a side of the Serbs' quality.

Losing in the FAI Cup at Longford, where for all the complaints Cork played poorly, or drawing on Saturday against a managerless Waterford side are altogether different matters. The reality is Cork no longer have the best team in the league and having trailed Shelbourne (and perhaps Derry) last season in the squad department, they find themselves trailing Drogheda too.

Richardson, who looks set to sign a new two-year deal over the coming weeks, points to the sort of money paid out by Drogheda for Eamon Zayed (which, with add-ons and signing-on fee, is rumoured to have approached €80,000) and contends his club can't compete.

A large tax bill earlier in the summer has hardly helped but it still seems surprising the champions have not attracted a single player of real consequence from the rest of the league.

Instead, Richardson sets out the development of the best scouting and youth structures in the country as his aim during the next couple of years and if he can make substantial progress in this area then he will have earned his money again. Cork occupy a huge catchment area, one that offers enormous potential for the production of young talent, and producing a first team with strong local links is a sensible priority. With the support of chairman Brian Lennox, they would already appear have established strong foundations under Liam Murphy and the likes of Mark McNulty, Admir Softic and Cillian Lordan have performed solidly when given the chance in the first team.

The club are also finalising a deal with the county council for the use of land in Ballincollig which they intend to use in part as the venue for an academy-type project.

In the longer term then, the future appears to look relatively bright. Still, it would be quite some achievement if the club get to the stage where they are successful and near self-sufficient on the player front. And even if it were to happen in the long term, there are some issues in the more immediate future that need to be addressed.

Most pressing, perhaps, is the team's attack. The fact O'Flynn is again the club's top scorer despite having missed so many games is a reminder of his effectiveness when fit but City's strike rate has halved over the first half of this campaign, significantly denting the side's ability to collect three points from games. The impending departure of O'Callaghan will not help. If an unchanged defence was not proving as reliable this year as last then the situation would be a good deal worse.

Having proven his critics wrong once by securing the title with somebody else's team, the real measure of Richardson's next few years in charge may be his ability to silence them again by rebuilding and winning it again.