Cork City manager Damien Richardson has criticised the decision to hold the FAI Cup final in December.
Richardson was angry with the conditions that his players were expected to face in yesterday's 2-0 defeat to Drogheda United, especially the state of the playing surface in the aftermath of the three recent rugby internationals.
He told the Irish Independent that he believes, despite the excellent occasion, both teams were unable to live up to their true potential in yesterday's game.
He said: "The ball was bouncing awkwardly and coming up at different heights and the players didn't know how the ball was going to come off the surface to them."
Richardson went on to add that he would prefer to see the game played earlier in the year before the icy weather sets in.
He said: "If we had played this in late September we could have had something special."
