WATCH: Aidan O’Shea claims he was headbutted

Aidan O’Shea has claimed he was headbutted in yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Video footage of a 42nd minute incident involving O’Shea and Philly McMahon went viral following the game.

McMahon appears to push his head towards O’Shea’s in an exchange after a free had been awarded to Jonny Cooper. The pair were involved in a series of tussles including a penalty claim for O’Shea in the 31st minute, which was waved away by referee Joe McQuillan.

Both also went to ground when they collided with each other in the 56th minute.

However, the 42nd minute one could land McMahon in trouble should the Central Competitions Control Committee see fit to hand him down a retrospective proposed ban. Neither McQuillan nor his assistants appear to have seen the incident.

Asked if he was head-butted, O’Shea said: “Yeah, I was head-butted alright. But sure that is not for me to enforce the rules of the game but there was plenty of more things out there that the referee missed too.”

Of the penalty claim, O’Shea said: “Ye will have to look at the tape. I thought there was contact, (I) will have to look back on it, thought there was contact but Joe didn’t think so.”

However, O’Shea denied the game was nasty. “I thought it was a good competitive game out there with some good one-on-one combat. I thought he (Joe McQuillan) had a good game for the most part. You are not going to get everything right.”

In the GAA Official Guide, rule 5.25 states “to strike or attempt to strike an opponent with the head” is a category four infraction. That carries a two-match suspension.

O’Shea was also asked whether he should have won more frees. “I don’t know, some days you get them, some days you don’t.”