Philly McMahon has opened up on far-right groups protesting outside his gym and why he chose to not engage with protesters.
The retired Dublin footballer has a number of successful businesses and found far-right protestors outside his gym earlier this year.
McMahon came under fire from some far-right cycles after supporting an 'Ireland for All' march and around 30 anti-immigrant protestors turned up to his gym.
And McMahon opened up on the experience when speaking to the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Owen Reidy.
He said: "They were outside my gym screaming for me and blah blah, and the worst thing I could have done then was to challenge that because that’s what they’re using me for.
"If you’ve nobody to argue with, virtually, they can’t really argue with themselves. They’ll eventually go away"
McMahon also added that he did speak to locals that had been involved in far-right protests and added: "“There were people genuinely through a lack of, let’s say, will or political failures of generations, that had real reasons to protest – but not against these people who were vulnerable."
The Ballymun man retired from Dublin duty in 2021 with eight All-Ireland medals to his name as well as two All-Star awards.
