He wasn’t taking any prisoners.
Philly McMahon and Aidan O’Shea have become well aquatinted with one another in the last decade or so, and not always on the friendliest of terms.
It was only last December that the two of them were involved in a tunnel bust-up at half-time of the All-Ireland final, and they looked to continue that pattern in last weekend’s semi-final.
The game had come to a halt and handbags were being thrown all over the place, McMahon’s jersey got ripped in the middle of it, and O’Shea, who was subbed at this stage, ran on to the pitch to get involved.
The Mayo captain made a bee line for his old foe, with his substitute bib on, but not allowing such labels to prevent him from weighing in on the scuffle.
The Ballymun man however, told him on no uncertain terms to get off the pitch and back to the bench, and that was really the height of the alteration.
When reviewing on The Sunday Game, former Armagh star Oisin McConville had something to say about it.
“That was as much impact as both Aidan O’Shea and Philly McMahon had on the game, was right at the end.
“At that stage, Conor Lane (referee) had completely lost it. He needed to get off the pitch, somebody needed to have a chat with him.
“I think in the first half of extra time, he found his black cards, and he had obviously settled himself and tried to redress the balance as best as he could.”
In fairness to the Crossmaglen native, neither of the two mentioned really got into the game.
O’Shea had a nightmare first half, struggling to get involved and even missed a very easy set-piece that he normally would kick over with his eyes closed. This resulted in him being subbed early in the second half.
McMahon was brought on with just a few minutes of normal time to go, no doubt to try and steady the ship and use his experience to help see Dublin get over the line.
However, it could be argued that he had the opposite effect, riling up the Mayo players, getting involved with pushing and shoving matches, and ultimately not being able to stop Mayo’s late barrage of attacks.
