KERRY CAPTAIN KIERAN Donaghy has been reflecting on the alleged eye gouging incident involving Dublin’s Philly McMahon in last month’s All-Ireland senior football final.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Donaghy downplayed the flashpoint but he went into a little bit more detail when asked about it on Radio Kerry’s Terrace Talk show on Monday evening.
“I was fighting for my life for the ball,” said Donaghy.
“Paul Galvin came onto a breaking ball and he put in a fabulous ball with the outside of his left boot.
“It was set up for me to go get it, I got it and landed and two or three Dubs were sowing it into me.
“I was trying to fight for my life for the ball.
“I remember getting the ball and the ref blowing the whistle and giving a hop ball.
“My point to him (referee David Coldrick) was more why a hop ball?
“It was either a free in, I won it and there were three pulling me, or else it’s a free out for overcarrying.
“What’s the hop ball for? He didn’t have an answer for me.
“He threw it up, we went on from there and nearly got a break off it but unfortunately it didn’t work out, it was just that kind of day for us, the harder we tried, the worse it got.”
When asked if he was lucky to escape serious eye damage, Donaghy insisted: “It was nothing close to serious eye damage.
“An incident like that could be serious if it happened to somebody at a different time but for me on that day it was nothing that I was ever going to be long term serious out of.
“It’s obviously something you’d like to stay away from in the game. I don’t think he (McMahon) meant it, he’s the only one that knows.
“He was going for the ball, like he said, I was going for the ball to the best of my abilities to try and get it. A hop ball was the answer.”
Donaghy, who recently admitted that he’s unsure about his intercounty future, reiterated that stance on Monday.
“We’ll see, I have to weigh a few things up first.
“I’m starting a new job, PST Sports with Colin Teehan, doing artificial pitches around the country.
“I’ll be doing a bit of travelling and there’s stuff to weigh up.
“I’ll take to Eamonn (Fitzmaurice) and my wife. We’re jut after having a baby girl, she’s five months, and Lola Rose is the centre of attention.
“Everything is revolving around her little world now and it’s been very enjoyable, we’re loving it so far.
“A lot of things to take into consideration…the body is getting that bit older and it’s taken a few knocks over the year.
“We’ll just wait and see. I’m not putting any time frame on it. Whatever decision I make, I want to make sure it’s the right one for everybody involved.”
Watch Royal Rumble 2003. Around the 8 minute mark Edge and Rey Mysterio give him a double dropkick but Edge goes right across his face and breaks his nose!
The worst one pat. Remember m n m? When the guy got the ladder right in the face. Complete botch. His nose spread across his face
Joey hasn’t been the same since and is effectively retired (training in nxt now). One of the worst injuries I’ve witnessed.
Oh God. Yeh, that one is foul!
I love watching NFL, but the number of former players committing suicide because of the CTE-related dementia is scary and really needs to be addressed.
It’s not just just the older guys suffering symptoms either, linebacker Jovan Belcher who was only 26 and still playing for the KC Chiefs last year, murdered the mother of his child and committed suicide.
How long before they wake up and change the rules?
Where is it claimed that this had to do with cte? The reasoning behind that particular tragedy says he had a row with his gf over whether their daughter was his or not.
I think it’s really admirable what chris is doing but other tragedies shouldn’t be cited to push an agenda…
Belcher was a 3 time All America wrestler as well as a crunching linebacker whose job it is to crash head first repeatedly into 250lb+ blockers and running backs… head trauma much?
It is also well documented by close colleagues and friends that he displayed all the early stage signs of cte, e.g. depression, memory loss, confusion, aggressive behaviour etc…
…but hey if you think shooting his girlfriend 9 times and then himself was a perfectly sane, rational response to a row over the daughter then fair enough.
Like I said I love watching nfl, but it doesn’t take a genius to realise that repeatedly leading with their helmets, as they are taught to do from a young age, causes major problems later in life.
Was the same story with the Chris Benoit murder suicide. Everyone put it down to roid rage or personal issues with his wife but Nowinski worked with Benoits father closely and when they did an autopsy on the brain of Chris Benoit they discovered that due to the number of concussions Chris Benoit suffered he had a brain the equivalent to an elderly person suffering dementia. It was then argued how many dementia sufferers kill their family but I would argue back how many are physically capable of doing so.
After this was high lighted WWE took steps to prevent this. Unprotected chair shots to the head are banned, certain moved such as piledrivers and top rope head butts (incidentally one of Benoits finishers) are banned. On the other hand American Football associations have stuck their head in the sand.
Billy Korgan.
Karl Pilkingtons twin. :)
I agree that the NFL has to do more to
protect players – the constant impact to the brain in the sport is definitely related to depression later in a players life, as seen with linebacker Junior Seau. I also think that the NFL isn’t strict enough in regards to PEDs – so many players nowadays are on HGH and other banned substances – the combination of both brain trauma and dangerous substances does even more damage to the body. No wonder ex players are suing.
Interesting piece, but the link on Twitter was called “We’re putting our kids at too much risk by letting them play certain contact sports. Here’s how we can change that:”
This doesn’t really come close to addressing that…