Henry Shefflin was critical of the some the decisions made by the officials as his Galway side exited the Leinster championship after defeat to Dublin, while adding that he will "weigh up" his future as boss of the Connacht county.
The Dubs came away with a six-point win at Pearse Stadium, an outcome that sends them through to a provincial final appearance against Kilkenny in a fortnight's time.
A straight red card to Galway's All-Ireland winning captain from seven years ago David Burke after just 16 minutes proved decisive as Dublin used the extra man well to send Henry Shefflin’s side crashing out.
Dublin came from five points adrift when Burke was sent off for a late challenge on Fergal Whitely, which Cork referee Colm Lyons deemed worthy of a red card, to cut the deficit to two at the break and then they pulled away after the restart when they had the strong wind behind them.
Speaking to the assembled media afterwards, Shefflin, who was appointed Tribes boss in 2021 and is tied to the county until the end of the 2026 season, said he was always going to take stock of things after his third year in charge.
"It’s something after three years that I was always going to reassess, and that will be no different now. But I think today is not the day for that," he said.
"I’m going to be very low obviously, because you put a lot into this and you just weigh up your family and everything like that that goes into it. For us, though, that’s why we do sport.
"It’s easy to sit at home and watch the TV and do these things, but you have to front up and go out there and that’s what I decided to do. But your family put a lot into it and there’s a lot of things kind of go around.
"But for me, it will be hurt for a few days and just kind of take a break and just try and get back to normal after a few days and see how things lie at that stage.
"I’m absolutely heartbroken because you put so much into this and we’ve thrown everything at it. We felt we had to be a little bit different this year and make that step change, and we did that with the support of the county board.
"We tried everything, but the more we seemed to try, the more it seemed to come back on us and it was very hard for us to catch a break, and it was just one of those years I think."
On David Burke's dismissal, the former Kilkenny star was adamant that the colour of the card brandished was a harsh call.
"For me he didn't deserve a red card. It was a yellow card and obviously it had a big bearing on the game." he explained.
"When you have the opposing manager in the linesman's ear telling him it's a red card, well I think the linesman and the officials need to support each other. The linesman in the second half told Colm Lyons it was a wide ball; he walked to his umpires and had a chat with them for a minute. Why was that? I don't know and the next thing they give a point."
Difficult angle but Chris Crummey makes light of it to score a fine point
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