Pat Flanagan says there's no way Offaly deserved to have three men sent off against Longford on Sunday.

The Faithful County's hopes of gaining promotion to Division Three with a game to spare were dashed when the dismissals of captain Paul McConway (straight red), Graham Guilfoyle and Niall Smith (each for two yellows) contributed to their three-point defeat at Pearse Park.

Speaking to Midlands 103, the Offaly boss was not impressed by the performance of referee Brendan Cawley: "If I'm being honest here, I'll probably wind up in the dock because you're not supposed to say anything about referees. But, being totally honest, my players deserve better, supporters deserve better.

"There certainly wasn't three sendings-off out there; it turned into a farce. I asked the linesman, he couldn't understand some of the decisions. Things like that kill teams.

"Paul McConway was never sent off in his intercounty career. We have never had anyone sent off this year. I can have a bad day as a manager, the players can have a bad day - surely the referee can have a bad day and somebody realise that."

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