Cork City alarm bells started ringing after Colin Healy left - Johnny McDonnell

While Cork City's fate was sealed when they lost the SSE Airtricity promotion/relegation final to Waterford on Friday, Johnny McDonnell believes "alarm bells were ringing" as soon as former manager Colin Healy stepped away from the club in May.

Former Republic of Ireland international Healy guided his hometown club back into the top flight at the end of last season after an excellent promotion campaign.

But life back in the Premier Division proved difficult for Cork and they were second from bottom when he departed after 13 games.

Since then, City have yet to appoint a permanent successor with sporting director Liam Buckley and Richie Holland taking the reins respectively on an interim basis for the remainder of a 2023 season which saw them remain in the promotion/relegation play-off spot, ultimately leading to them meeting and subsequently losing to First Division runners-up Waterford in a frantic extra-time battle at Tallaght Stadium.

Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, ex-St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne manager McDonnell said Cork's failure to reel in a vulnerable and freefalling Sligo Rovers side in the second half of the campaign was their primary undoing rather than what transpired against Waterford.

"I've said many a time that I wouldn't want to be playing Waterford in the play-off because they were building the momentum and had a plan to get back into the top-flight," he said.

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"And I just thought from the perspective of Cork, they needed to catch Sligo. Sligo were there