The National League Premier Division game between Finn Harps and Bohemians, which had been refixed for this evening after being called off at the weekend, was again postponed yesterday after a pitch inspection at Ballybofey. No new date has been set for the game but it is not expected to take place before the start of next month.
A look at the league table this morning suggests that Cork City are still within striking distance of second place and the UEFA Cup spot that goes with it. However, after a look at manager Derek Mountfield's players against Longford Town on Sunday, it is difficult to see how they are going to have their summer break disrupted by the inconvenience of European football.
City, of course, haven't suddenly become a bad side and didn't look a long way from being a good one. For most of this season the argument has been that they were on the verge of discovering their best form.
In the wake of Sunday's defeat the line was trotted out again but after a game which they should have won it was harder than ever to believe.
Even Mountfield must have realised as he talked about City winning their next three league games that his task at the club now centres more on preparing them to make a sustained challenge next year than a late charge this one.
The problem for Mountfield and the club's board is a tricky one, though, with the desire to stick with a largely locally-sourced team to be balanced with the obvious need to improve the strength of the panel.
Important players in the current side are reaching the end of the road with Declan Daly, John Caulfield and Pat Morley still playing well but all pretty much in their mid-30s, and starting to look it.
At present there is little from within the club to threaten any of them unless you think of Caulfield as a right-sided midfielder and count Tony Tynan as a treat. The difficulty there is that the veteran is not and the youngster seems likely to be at Filbert Street rather than Turner's Cross by the time pre-season training gets under way in July.
Even if players of sufficient quality are coming through the youth system at the club, it will be a couple of years or more before they could be expected to have a side capable of challenging for honours. Their problems don't stop there. On Sunday Cork's ability to retain possession was consistently undermined by poor passing and a leaning towards carelessness.
City's scoring record is, in fact, relegation material and it is only the fact that their defending continues to be the stuff of would-be title winners that prevents them from being in genuinely serious trouble.
Mountfield has sought to strengthen his panel since arriving. Michael Devine looks a good signing while Steve Gaughan has performed solidly. James Mulligan, on the face of it, might be considered a disappointment for his strike rate is not what it might be and he is clearly a player who needs to deliver. But then the former Finn Harps striker looked lively throughout the two cup games during which he was probably the most troublesome player for the Longford defence and his overall contribution has not been bad at all.
Next Sunday, though, City could do with Mulligan banging in a couple against Shelbourne because if they are to salvage a UEFA Cup spot from this campaign then they can't afford to wait any longer, they have to start winning games. If they do it would doubtless be a welcome boost for Mountfield although either way, you suspect, he's got his work cut out over the summer months.
