It’s been hard to escape the fall-out from Philly McMahon’s apparent eye-gouge on Kerry’s Kieran Donaghy.
The Dublin defender appeared to make contact with the Kerry captain’s eye in the closing stages of his side’s All-Ireland victory over the Kingdom on Sunday, the main talking point from the game.
From newspapers to social, digital and broadcast media, it’s all everyone has talked about the past few days.
It has got us thinking, what was the reaction like to another high profile tussle in a major game like back in the day?
Some weren’t captured on camera, of course, but there was that doozy of a fight between Kerry’s Paidi Ó Sé and Cork’s Dinny Allen back in the 1975 Munster football final.
Ó Sé lands a haymaker worthy of a heavyweight boxer, and the impact was so great the referee appears to lose his balance.
There must’ve been outrage? Right? Wall-to-wall newspaper coverage for days, enraged Cork fans writing into newspapers and calling radio stations to vent their anger against O Se?
First, let’s remind ourselves of the coverage around McMahon’s apparent eye-gouge.
There was the reaction on Twitter.
Gouge from Philly McMahon. Dirty, dirty play.
— BTR (@BrianRainey5) September 20, 2015
Has Philly McMahon got an invisibility cape – gets away with so much dirt every game
— Chris McCann (@canntoya) September 20, 2015
Philly McMahon eye gouging. Dirty fecker #AllIrelandFinal
— Shane McMenamin (@Shane_McMenamin) September 20, 2015
The reaction to the Sunday Game’s reaction.
#sundaygame Shocking Philly McMahon gouging, if its not highlighted tonight, Is rte censoring what happens to Dublin or excusing it
— Sean (@kopdublin81) September 20, 2015
The #SundayGame can't ignore the gouging incident with Philly McMahon. No place for that in the game. A disgrace #GAA
— Len Raynor (@Connoed) September 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/connell_sean/status/645708451180449792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“We’re grown men, we play a physical sport. At the end of the day, the result is what ends it, we shake hands and get on with it.” – Philly McMahon
The digital media reaction.
Newspapers.
Broadcast media.
https://soundcloud.com/offtheball/reaction-and-analysis-of-yesterdays-all-ireland
https://soundcloud.com/secondcaptains-it-com/dublin-rain-kerry-flop-japan-shock-ireland-cruise
And, here we are, a few days later, and despite the immediate nature of modern media, people are still talking about the incident.
@PhillyMcMahon
Brilliant via @broadsheet_ie: Proven Results http://t.co/ak36Zl8H8n pic.twitter.com/xpV5viAvkV— Paul McQuillan (@PaulMcQuillan76) September 23, 2015
So, although social media didn’t exist back in 1975, surely the coverage of the fight between Ó Sé and Allen was just as all-consuming? Right?
Well, it seems not.
We’ve looked through the newspaper archives, and this is all we could find in reference to the fight:
It comes from The Kerryman newspaper, and reads:
“Play was held up following an incident in front of the stand, involving Paudie O’Shea and Denny Allen, with O’Shea flooring Allen in retaliation for a blow received, and this really had the crowd buzzing.”
Here’s a reminder of what had “crowd buzzing” back in July 1975.
Simpler times.
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