Eleventh hour Tallaght Stadium postponement call 'not good enough' - Barry Murphy

Former Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Barry Murphy believes the 11th hour nature of the decision to postpone the Hoops' league game against Cork City on Sunday was just "not good enough".

Amid inclement weather in Dublin from early morning, doubts had increasingly grown about whether the game at Tallaght Stadium would go ahead, with two pitch inspections conducted earlier in the day on a surface that had seen over 210 minutes of action across Thursday and Friday when Rovers and the Republic of Ireland women's team had played matches there against Molde and Turkey respectively.

However, further rainfall would follow and less than an hour before the planned 6pm kick-off, it was announced that the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division fixture would not go ahead.

"The pitch was passed playable in the first pitch inspection at 11:15am and with more rain forecast amid changeable weather conditions, it was agreed with both clubs that a second inspection would take place at 4pm," the FAI said in a statement that also apologised to supporters.

"The pitch was deemed playable at this juncture and unfortunately a torrential downpour occurred after the second pitch inspection which made the pitch unplayable."

Cork City's frustrations were evident in regard to the postponement decision coming "so close to kick-off" and cited the disruption to their travelling support.

The club added: "At all times, the club made clear our preference for the game to go ahead, up to and including being willing to delay kick-off to facilitate this, however this was, regrettably, in vain."

Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, ex-Rovers and St Pat's shot-stopper Murphy sympathised with those supporters, as well as to other stakeholders and volunteers connected to both