Rovers let go of Richardson

Shamrock Rovers have parted company with manager, Damian Richardson, after apparently declining a request from the former Shelbourne boss to take on the role at the club full time.

Richardson met the club chairman, Joe Colwell, on Tuesday night when he is reported to have put it to the club officials that he felt he could no longer do the job adequately while only employed part-time.

But the club refused to offer him a full-time contract and subsequently made it clear that his current deal, which is due to expire during the summer, would not be renewed.

Richardson's case will not have been helped by the team's disappointing finish to the recent campaign. At one stage the club was in the hunt for the championship and both cups, but a late-season slump ended their hopes and there was particular disappointment at the way they were eliminated from the league and FAI Cup by Limerick and Dundalk respectively at the semi-final stages.

Meanwhile, National League commissioner Roy Dooney has confirmed that the majority of clubs found to have made errors when registering their players this season are unlikely to be punished in the wake of his review of all of the forms currently held in Merrion Square.

Details of his report into the issue emerged yesterday when it was revealed that forms registered by the majority of the league's 21 clubs contained flaws of one type or another.

Typically these consisted of missing signatures, incomplete details or improperly posted forms. But in one case, widely believed to involve a Longford Town player, it is reported that no original registration can be found in the league's offices.

If action is taken against the Strokestown Road club, then it is almost certain to result in the relegation of Martin Lawlor's side, with cup winners Dundalk taking their place in the promotion/relegation play-off.

Dooley, however, believes clubs which had not been informed that players were improperly registered at the start of the season by the league cannot now be pursued even if they are guilty of breaching the registration rules.