I can use this platform to help others – McMahon
ON the Saturday before the All-Ireland football final, Philly McMahon got a text from a friend urging him to ‘look into the Hill’ when he got the opportunity the following day.
Nothing more was said, nothing more was established. McMahon will always take the opportunity anyway to look around him during the prematch parade and take in the ‘energy’ but as he passed Hill 16 he grew more curious.
“I was looking around and thinking, ‘what was he talking about?’ I didn’t see him,” McMahon recalled.
It was only afterwards when the players gathered beneath the terrace with the Sam Maguire Cup for the sixth time in the decade that the riddle of the text was resolved.
A white T-shirt with a printed image of the US actor Walter White and the words ‘Philly’ and ‘He’s Here’ above and beneath were thrown over the barriers where he had spotted his pal.
Phil McMahon senior had passed away just two months earlier. A resemblance with the ‘Breaking Bad’ actor had often been drawn
For McMahon, it was a ‘nice’ touch on a poignant day and he happily swapped his jersey for T-shirt as the celebrations continued on the field.
“The last two years have been tough for me because of my Dad’s situation,” he said. “I’m just so lucky I had a great support network around me with the (Dublin) lads.
“There’s a lot of people who have issues and adversity in their lives. People say, especially with mental health nowadays, it’s okay to say there’s something wrong with you.
“For me, sometimes actions are nearly stronger. To see Eoghan O’Gara going up to my Da through his illness, just to take that time, the guy has a young family and he was travelling down to Wexford (where he lives). That just shows you the character that we have in the squad. Other lads did it as well,” recalled McMahon.
“When you have that, it drives you on. It drives you on to fight for each other. That brings that little bit of closeness even tighter.
“For me, I’m very fortunate. It was the same with my club, Ballymun Kickhams, and all the other supports that you have around you in the GAA community and certainly in my community in Ballymun. I’m just grateful that I was able to get my Dad to see me win the All-Ireland last year.”
For McMahon, winning All-Ireland titles continues to give him the platform to help others.
Purpose
“At the start I loved football, it was a hobby. You win your first All-Ireland and your second All-Ireland and it’s incredible. Then, I was very lucky that I was developing purpose out of it. And I saw the benefit of using sport as a platform to help people,” he said.
“That’s the best bit about winning an All-Ireland, not saying four-in-a-row, or six All-Irelands. It’s what you get from it, and what you can give from it.
“Not everybody will get that, but I did, and I’m very fortunate. My motivation is that we’re putting smiles on so many people’s faces, especially in my instance last year with my Dad. I’m only a small cog in the wheel in terms of helping the lads to win an All-Ireland last year and this year.
“There are loads of people like that in Croke Park yesterday that probably won’t see another game, probably won’t see another All-Ireland. How could you not be motivated to go and pull on the Dublin jersey?”
McMahon will never underestimate the influence that the ex-Dublin footballer Paddy Christie had on his career and many others in his community.
“Paddy would have seen the energy of the kids in Ballymun and blended that well with the kids that were from Glasnevin at a certain age. And I would have had a lot of aggression, because of the problems I would have had at home, with my brother John.
“I pushed that onto the pitch and Paddy was the one that spotted that. He did it for a lot of young kids in Ballymun,” he said. “Unfortunately there were a few that slipped through the net. There was one guy, David Bewley, and he was incredible, Oh my God! He had the movement of Diarmuid Connolly, that’s how good this fella was. But you kind of drop off, for whatever reason.
“There are other Dublin lads who will talk about him all the time, ‘where’s David?, ‘what’s he doing.’”
Twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, McMahon will visit Mountjoy Prison and speak to the inmates.
“These lads would have had problems with their self-image from a very young age or their family members, the environment would have influenced the choices they’ve made.
“And unfortunately, when we look at Mountjoy, and when we look at the people in there, we only look at the crime and don’t look at the person and what they went through.”