“This is a physical sport. You can’t expect not to be challenged” – Philly McMahon

Éamonn Fitzmaurice wasn't happy with some Dublin players. Some Dublin players weren't happy with Éamonn Fitzmaurice.

Kieran Donaghy took an awful lot of treatment at Croke Park on Sunday. He was being booed by the crowd, he was being ignored by the referee, and he certainly wasn't being let off the leash by the the Dublin backs. It sparked Kerry manager, Fitzmaurice, to go a tad over the top with his description of what was happening in the Dubs' full back line. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/724561013497036800 Philly McMahon didn't agree. The same boy who took flak last Semptember for his apparent eye gouge on Kieran Donaghy has hit back to remind Fitzmaurice that this a physical sport. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/645884459041058816 The Dublin defender protested his innocence and disagreed that Donaghy was being harshly treated. "I only got one chance to tackle Kieran, in the first-half when the ball came in and he got a free,” McMahon said yesterday. “Apart from that, I don’t know. I can’t remember off the top of my head the challenges [that Fitzmaurice was talking about]. "I might have been off the pitch at that stage. "This is a physical sport. You can’t expect not to be challenged. And if he felt that was what was going on, well, that’s his opinion.” Besides, McMahon was sick. He couldn't even celebrate. "I didn’t do much because I was a bit fluey and went straight home to bed but it’s something the lads should have celebrated because it was a momentous occasion with the day that was in it and beating Kerry as well."