Damien Duff says he feels "muzzled" in his new role as manager.
The Ireland legend on received the first red card of his career last night - when he was sent from the dugout during Shelbourne's 2-1 defeat to Dundalk.
His was one of three red cards dished out by referee Paul McLaughlin on the night, with Shels’ Shane Griffin and Lilywhites star Steven Bradley also going for early showers.
It was in the immediate aftermath of Griffin’s sending off - moments before half-time and for his second yellow card - that the Ireland legend picked up two yellows in quick succession.
The first was for arguing with the assistant referee and the second, moments later, appeared to be for angrily spilling the contents of a water bottle.
Asked why he felt he was sent off, the former Chelsea and Ireland winger replied: “I don’t know. Listen, I’ll soon find out. I’m sure there will be emails back and forth - I did this, I did that.
"I’ve had that with Alan Quinn after the Derry game. You are pushed to the limit.
"I always heard that, reading the media, you are pushed to the limit but you are not allowed to speak. You are muzzled somewhat."
Duff was clearly frustrated with the officials' performance on Friday and added: "It’s just no consistency.
"I’m not allowed to criticise, so I won’t. Even if I thought it was the worst… IF I thought it was the worst refereeing performance I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t comment on it. So I’ll just pass on what I thought of them.
"Generally over the season, two penalties, it was all over social media, two penalties at Bohs, constant decisions, it all tots up and costs you points.
"Listen, we’ll move on. We are a tight-knit group. The fans are behind us, so we’ll keep going."
Shels kept Dundalk scoreless until Daniel Kelly’s 64th-minute opener.
Dundalk’s second goal on 85 minutes was scored by substitute John Martin, with his first touch in the game.
It broke Shelbourne hearts, as they had drawn level just four minutes earlier thanks to Shane Farrell’s penalty.
Even the decision to award the spot-kick was contentious, as Shels were denied what appeared to be a much more clear-cut penalty earlier in the second-half.
Duff asked: "Does he give the second peno because he doesn’t give the first? I don’t know. Is it human instinct - ‘Oh, I’ll make up for my first one’? Jack Moylan’s one is a definite peno.
"You give yellows early on for nothing, i.e. Griff, then you send him off for nothing; that’s my frustration.
"It was an amazing defensive shift outside of the two crosses for the two goals. They were amazing. They adjusted well to our shape change.
"I thought if anyone was going to win the game at 1-1, it would be us.
"I thought at 0-0 coming back out at half-time, it would be us because we were so compact, we frustrated them. We started the second half more dangerous.
"Like I said, an amazing shift from them. I’ll give them the weekend off, it was always scheduled anyway, because we had them in every Sunday. That’s probably hard on family life.
"They’ll just have to reboot again on Monday. But it’s amazing from them. I can’t really fault them."
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