Philly McMahon revisited one of the flash points in Saturday evening's All-Ireland Final when he joined Monday's OTB AM to reflect on Dublin's triumph.
At the half-way point in Saturday's clash between Dublin and Mayo, as both sets of players made their way down the tunnel in Croke Park, something of a scuffle broke out between opposing parties.
Walking amidst Keith Higgins, Cillian O'Connor and Aiden O'Shea, Dublin's Philly McMahon was the target of some pushing and shoving from all three.
Although it was assumed that the Dublin substitute must have made some comment to spark this reaction, the Ballymun Kickhams club man gave his run down of what went on during Monday's OTB AM.
"Yeah, as I mentioned after the match," he explained, "they asked Murch (Eoin Murchan) to do elf on the shelf and he wouldn't do it, so they got pissed off.
"But look, it is just a bit of banter in the tunnel and we're all men, we push and shove and get on with it and it just another little element of the game.
"It is nothing that is going to take anything huge away from what happened on the pitch where two teams went out and tried to bring out the best in one another, as Mayo always do."
Joined by Dublin manager Dessie Farrell on Monday's OTB AM for a virtual visit of Temple Street Children's Hospital, McMahon, now the winner of eight All-Ireland medals, also reflected on his changing role in the Dublin senior panel.
"I'd be lying to say it isn't difficult," he acknowledged, Saturday's final only the second McMahon has not started since being named at corner-back for the 2013 All-Ireland Final.
"You train to play matches, but you have to realise that you are a part of something bigger than yourself and when you reflect on it and get an opportunity to help that team over the line and what that brings to your wider community, it always outweighs any selfishness or ego that comes with not playing."
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Reiterating time and again the importance of the collective, McMahon outlined how this outlook has made a difference for Dublin from the perspective of those who do not crack the starting XV.
"With the players who have been in the starting positions," he explained, "you've got to make sure your ego does not take over or you don't turn into this negative person because you're not getting much game time.
"You need to support the lads as much as you can because there's probably other lads who weren't in the squad that would have done just as important a job for the lads starting as I did.
"You have to have gratitude that you're in the squad because there were lads behind us in the stands who have been driving everybody on for the whole year, especially the older lads like Paddy Andrews, Cian O'Sullivan and Rory O'Carroll - they were crucial to the whole build-up.
"That's where you keep showing your attitude and your worth to the management team and to the squad - and the love that you have for them and everything that we've built. It's been a really informative year for me and there's loads of learnings every time you get a chance to get amongst the group and this year was a special one for me in terms of learning."
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