Darren Hughes says he'll never forget the look of disappointment on Malachy O'Rourke's face after he was sent off late in the 2015 All-Ireland quarter-final between Monaghan and Tyrone.
Hughes had been red carded just moments earlier after he tousled Tiernan McCann's hair and the Tyrone player infamously hit the deck like he'd just been hit by Barry McGuigan.
It was the 71st minute when Hughes was sent-off. Tyrone were leading by four points, but there was another five minutes of injury time to be played.
"I don't actually remember much from it," Hughes told BBC Radio Ulster's The GAA Social podcast.
"Me and Richie Donnelly clashed heads a couple of minutes before. I was probably concussed.
"I'll never forget Malachy's face when I got the red card. It was just a look of sheer disappointment. I was [thinking] 'I've messed up here'."
'Tiernan McCann was getting all the flak'
Don't know what is worse, Tiernan McCann's dive, or the fact that Marty Duffy gave Darren Hughes a red card. pic.twitter.com/zBby1LT53e
— Mary (@Mc1988) August 8, 2015
It was after the game when Hughes realised he had not done anything wrong.
"In the dressing room after, I switch the phone on and it's hopping about what happened," he said.
"What I did, and what I meant to do, might have been two different things! Once I saw the video, I thought at least Malachy might not be that disappointed in me now.
"I definitely wasn't thinking clearly. The memory is vague from it. When you see me coming off, there is blood coming down the back of my neck. I probably was [concussed].
"Tiernan was getting all the flak. It did [annoy me that I got sent off], but he was getting all the heat. It was his reputation that was taking the hit. I was the victim at the end up."
Hughes added that McCann never contacted him about the moment.
"I did hear that he'd got my number," said Hughes.
"I wouldn't talk to him now about it. I don't know him. I have loads of friends in the Tyrone panel, and they know what I think of what happened."
Tyrone went on to play Kerry in that year's All-Ireland semi-final, a game they lost by four points.
Darren Hughes talks for the first time about the Tiernan McCann incident at Croke Park in 2015. Jealousy, trying to win Sam, calving season, his relationship with Liam Sheedy- so much more. Getting older-getting better & one of the soundest men you’d meet https://t.co/9MUPVRUTTL
— Thomas Niblock (@thomasniblock) April 5, 2022
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