It would be fair to say that there was quite a bit of controversy during the drawn All-Ireland semi final between Dublin and Mayo. It was the kind of game that purists would say does nothing for the sport but which, in reality, we absolutely love arguing about in the minutes, hours and days following the final whistle.
Going along that line of thinking, Philly McMahon was the star of the show at Croke Park that day. Dublin's plan was to disrupt Aidan O'Shea's influence and McMahon certainly did that. In the week following the drawn game McMahon was barely out of the news.
There was the suspected headbutt and then there was the dive. McMahon was criticised and defended in equal measure but the Ballymun Kickhams man was unsurprisingly silent on the incidents in the build up to the replay. Now that the replay is done and dusted, McMahon has spoken to 98FM and has revealed his thoughts on those controversial moments and, in particular, the reaction to it.
It's a bit disappointing because I didn't do it. I didn't see it until a lot of people came to me and said 'did you see that you were blamed [for] headbutting somebody'. I looked at the camera view and it actually looked like I did do it but I didn't and if you look at the camera from the opposite side you can see him actually pulling my jersey towards him.
Speaking about the alleged diving incident, McMahon was similarly dismissive of the criticism he received.
You just have to look at the footage and you can see that his arm hits me in the face. Whether that was accidental or not is a different thing but I definitely didn't feign injury.
There's sure to be some Mayo fans who would disagree with that view but considering the ultimate outcome, we'd suggest McMahon probably won't mind too much.
