Dublin’s Philly McMahon has issued some advice to any opposing players who face the All Star defender, they are wasting their time trying to wind him up.
McMahon reasons that he doesn’t fall for those antics because he is too focused on his main job.
“I’d like to be a fly (on the wall) in the changing room of the opposition,” the All-Star defender remarked to The Irish Independent.
“I think it would be a stupid thing to do because it’s kind of my bread and butter.
“I’ve never failed to, you know, to fall into that trap, so if there’s an opposition team that are thinking of doing that to me, I’d welcome it. Because I don’t think it works.”
The Ballymun Kickhams star also credits his experience in MMA as a big factor in helping him keep control his temperament on the field of play.
“I’m very lucky that I’ve done MMA a lot so when you’re getting punched in the face and you’re not just reacting, you’re responding I suppose to the situation and it just becomes a habit. It’s something I’ve done all my career.
“It’s experience, it’s being able to bring your brain through those little compartments and make sure they don’t happen.”
He went on to say: “I like the challenge of all the different styles within the one sport. And I like that you can channel the aggression into a sport like I do with football as well. But you can actually hit people in that sport, which is a little bit better.”
Today’s meeting with Tyrone has generated some comparisons with the 2014 meeting between Dublin and Donegal particularly as far as the style of play both northern teams employ.
McMahon is relishing the challenge Tyrone will bring to GAA Headquarters today.
“I have to say, I love it, I love it,” McMahon said. “Normally, when I am attacking, I’ve to drag a man with me but now I don’t! But in terms of preparation, Monaghan would have similar defensive structures although they probably didn’t go as defensive as we would have thought.
“Tyrone would be a little bit more defensive than them, they lock it down. It is nothing that we haven’t come up against before, tactically, but we know the intensity they bring is another notch above the rest of the northern teams.”