Gaelic Games Galway v Tyrone fallout: After the torrid exchanges of the counties' drawn National Football League semi-final in Omagh, both Galway and Tyrone stepped back from further confrontation at the weekend's replay in Salthill.

It emerged yesterday Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, who caused ripples of controversy when he criticised Galway player Pádhraic Joyce and suggested that he had been guilty of persistent fouling, told the Galway dressing-room after the match that he hadn't intended anything personal in the reference.

Confirming that this had happened, Harte's Galway counterpart John O'Mahony - who had engaged in a sharp exchange on the subject of his opposite number's comments - said he had taken steps himself to lower the temperature before the match started.

"I was a bit taken aback by the picture in The Irish Times on Monday, which seemed to suggest that I was turning my back on Mickey Harte when shaking hands after the game. In fact, I'd made a point of going up to him before the start and shaking hands.

"After the whistle we shook again but I was being pulled all over the place and called at so I was a bit distracted.

"When he came into our dressing-room, he said that he hadn't intended to personalise the issue when referring to Pádhraic in his comments about the referee the first day."

In his comments to media after the match Harte said Galway had been "far superior" on the day and added that he felt the performance of match referee Michael Collins from Cork had been "excellent".