Too much is being made of this decision IMO.
He was number 3. He was number 3 for a reason. He hasn't been offered a new deal but Ireland has, so he's clearly not as good as Ireland.
The thing is, if first Westwood and then Ireland hadn't got injured, we'd never have seen Quirke play and he would have been released and no one would have batted an eyelid. It would have been just another youth player being released, happens every year. But because he made a few appearances, everyone seems to be outraged about the decision.
He seems like a nice kid and I wish him all the best for the future, but I trust AT and Oggy's judgement much more than the fans who have seen him play about twice.