Brophy tackle criticism ‘blown out of all proportion’

Meath footballer Kevin Reilly has hit out at Jason Ryan’s criticism of his tackle on Paddy Brophy in last Sunday week’s Leinster |semi-final, claiming the incident has been "blown out of all proportion".

Reilly defended the first-half challenge on Brophy, deemed a legitimate one by referee Rory Hickey, which saw the Kildare forward forced off through injury. The full-back dismissed the Kildare manager’s comments that he deliberately set out to “make an impact” on Brophy, insisting the two players collided innocuously.

“Jason Ryan is entitled to his opinion. If you look at the incident which I did, Brophy kind of slid in to catch the ball and he fumbled it. When he fumbled it he actually tried to pick himself up off the ground to go after it and that’s when we collided,” explained Reilly.