A lot’s been said about Philly McMahon.
You’d do well to find a more polarising figure in football but he showed his sporting side in the uproarious moments that followed the final whistle of Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay.
As the referee put the whistle to his lips, drawing the curtains on a cracking 70 minutes, Dublin’s players united in an explosion of blue, roars and fist-pumps.
But while the victors embraced and exchanged smiles, McMahon walked to the nearest Mayo man, Diarmuid O’Connor, and picked him up from his heartbroken haunches.
O’Connor, clearly crestfallen by the crushing defeat, needed to be told to keep his chin up and he got the friendly, sporting arm round the shoulder in the form of McMahon.
Football, eh? It’s bloody brilliant.
