For Philly McMahon, there must have been no better way to answer the naysayers.
Dublin’s marauding back scored his side’s second goal, on Saturday, as they swept back from a four-point deficit to soundly defeat Mayo.
In the All-Ireland semi-final [first game], he repeatedly tangled with Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea, was accused of diving after a collision with the forward and, later, of headbutting him.
A replay from another angle emerged in the days after the game that cleared McMahon of wrongdoing, or suspicion.
Having felt the media, and online, heat in the week leading up to the replay, McMahon did his talking on the pitch.
In an interview with 98FM, McMahon said, ‘[The headbutt reaction] was a bit disappointing because I didn’t do it.
‘It was one of those things that I didn’t see it until a load of people came and said “Did you see you’ve been blamed on headbutting somebody?”‘
McMahon remarked that one camera makes him look guilty but he was delighted when footage, taken from the Cusack Stand, emerged to clear up the matter.
‘I didn’t let it get to me because, if I did, I probably would have had a poor game in the replay.
‘The focus was on doing my job and, thankfully, I did it.’
Asked about the moment he crumpled to the ground, holding his face, after a clash with O’Shea, McMahon said:
‘You just have to look at the footage and you’ll see his arm hits me in the face.
‘Whether it was accidental or not, I don’t know, but I definitely didn’t feign injury.’
