Damien Richardson, the Shelbourne manager, was bitterly disappointed after his side had crashed 2-1 on a dramatic night at Dundalk last night.

He said: "I'm extremely disappointed, not just with the fact that we lost the title but with the manner in which we lost it.

"We didn't have a full complement of players and that certainly showed, but there was only the 10 minutes before half-time and 15 before the end when we really played like Shelbourne. The way we played tonight and the way we'd played over the last five weeks hardly were even comparable except during those spells.

"The antiquities of the game here never cease to amaze me. Two players who had been in the season and picked up five yellow cards during all that time, and they weren't available to play tonight.

"Still, I don't want to make too much of that now, that's for another day, I want to be fair to St Patrick's now because they've been magnificent and they deserve to be congratulated.

"We've got a lot to prove next week at Dalymount (in the FAI Cup final) where there'll be a few players playing for their futures at Shelbourne.

"There's no point in talking about what went on down in Kilkenny because what's important is that we've let ourselves down here. There's no excuse for not performing and we have a few things to sort out over the next few days.

"We could have appealed the suspensions but then the players would have been looking at missing then cup final so I was in a bit of a catch 22 situation. The point is, though, that they shouldn't have been suspended. But then it's typical of what is wrong here. I've said before that we need to get everybody together, bang some heads together and sort out what we want the league to be.

"We keep being told that we don't want Wimbledon here but we're never told what we are going to get instead. The fact is that the whole thing has to become more professional because people like me and the players need to know how we are going to keep on earning our livings.

"A lot of my players were disappointing. Mick Neville was the exception, he was outstanding. For a long time tonight he was the best player on the pitch but the reason he was so good was simply because he went back to basics and that's not saying a great deal for the rest of them.

"My future now in my own hands just as the futures of the players are in theirs."