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16th Jun 2017

Former Armagh star Steven McDonnell on being labelled a ‘greedy bastard’

You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t

Darragh Culhane

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Player criticism isn’t a new concept but, following Bernard Flynn’s criticism of Aidan O’Shea taking selfies, there seems to be a new level of irrationality to it all.

There are always going to be supporters that dislike certain players and no matter what they do it’s never enough.

Former Armagh forward Steven McDonnell spoke on The GAA Hour about how he was subjected to a campaign calling for him to be dropped.

“I was going through a bad spell with Armagh; I was still their leading scorer, but there was a campaign or a topic put up ‘Is it time to drop Steven McDonnell?’ Benny Tierney always tells this story.

“(Former Armagh goalkeeper and Irish News columnist) Benny Tierney always tells this story: This supporter was walking out of Crossmaglen one day after me having a poor game saying, ‘He should be dropped’ this and ‘He should be dropped’ that.

“The following week we played Westmeath and I scored 2-7 and Benny catches up with the same guy and says ‘Well what do you think of McDonnell now, should he be dropped now?’ and he turns around and says ‘Sure isn’t he a greedy bastard.’”

Some people can never win.

You can listen to McDonnell talk about the incident below from 10:05

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