Cork City's bid in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to overturn the Fifa regulations preventing Gareth Farrelly and Colin Healy from playing until July 1st has failed.

Neither has been able to play since moving back to Ireland because of Fifa regulations aimed at preventing players from featuring for more than two clubs during one season.

Farrelly joined Cork from Blackpool, where he had signed a short-term deal after leaving Bohemians last August. Healy played for Barnsley and Bradford before returning to his home town.

The wording of the Fifa rule in question is based on a winter season and city's legal representatives had made the case in Switzerland that it unfairly penalises players who wish to move between leagues played at different times of the year.

However, the court rejected this assertion meaning both players won't become eligible until the start of next month.

City manager Damien Richardson declared in a statement this evening that  the "human aspect to this case should not be forgotten" while Farrelly stated his "profound dismay" at this further delay.