Dessie Farrell and John Cleary lament 'soft' sendings off

Cleary did not lay blame for his team’s defeat at the doorstep of referee Seamus Mulhare. But neither did he spare the Laois referee over what he saw as two blatantly wrong calls

OFF: Lee Gannon of Dublin is shown a red card by referee Seamus Mulhare during the Allianz Football League Division Two match between Cork v Dublin at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Dessie Farrell’s view of the second yellow cards shown to his own Lee Gannon and Cork midfielder Ian Maguire was that they were “a little bit soft”.

“Soft is being kind to it,” remarked Cork manager John Cleary when told of his Dublin counterpart’s summation.