Bubbles O'Dwyer says he received hate mail after he was sent off during Tipperary's 2016 Munster Hurling Championship semi-final victory over Limerick.
"I was after getting a load of letters that year after I got sent off [against Limerick]," O'Dwyer, who recently announced his retirement from inter-county hurling, told The 2 Johnnies Podcast.
"I got letters posted to the house. The mother opened them - she wouldn't let me read them. Lads abusing you. Fair enough, lads doing it on Twitter or whatever you want to do, but sending letters to your house.
"I got hold of one of the letters and it was absolutely brutal stuff that was in it. Whatever about going in on you but going in on your family, going in on your uncle, whatever, cousins, just mental.
"People saying 'you're nothing but a fucking cunt, and you shouldn't be wearing a Tipp jersey', all this sort of stuff."
19 June 2016; John O'Dwyer of Tipperary is shown a red card by match referee James McGrath during the first half of the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Limerick and Tipperary at Semple Stadium in Thurles, Co Tipperary. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Tipperary went on to win the All-Ireland that year, defeating Kilkenny in the final, a game in which O'Dwyer scored 1-5. Immediately following the final whistle, the Killenaule man swore during an interview shown live on RTÉ.
"The slating I got for that," said O'Dwyer.
"It was only the slip of a tongue. I had to come out and do an apology. RTÉ and the Tipp County Board [made me apologise].
"Next morning, we went to the children's hospital, and I had to do a two-minute interview with Marty Morrissey apologising first. I said, 'Sure, if Michael Conlan can do it, why can't I do it?'
"After an All-Ireland final, all you want to do is celebrate with your teammates, and they put a camera in your face. There's nothing worse."
"I'd still be adamant that it was over. 100 per cent," said O'Dwyer.
"The 31-year-old added that he still believes his famous free at the end of the 2014 drawn All-Ireland final between Tipperary and Kilkenny should have been given as a point. Hawk-Eye, which had been introduced the previous year, adjudged that it had gone wide.
"Darren Gleeson came up to me after the match and said, 'Do you not know the wind always goes left to right when you're striking into that end?' I said, 'It's no fucking good telling me now, Darren!'
"Eoin Kelly was on the field at that time. So, there was a bit of confusion about who was going to take it. Noel and Seamie came to me and said, 'This is yours'. I would have happily enough left it there for Eoin. I was after scoring one long-range one, maybe two, and I was after playing well - confidence was up.
"The camera came to me after the final whistle and I was smiling. I went into the dressing room after, and I was fine. I went away after about five minutes into a corner on my own, thinking 'I'm after losing an All-Ireland for Tipp'. Shane McGrath came over, hit me a slap across the face and said, 'Get up to fuck!' He said, 'It's not as if we lost, we have another day to go'."
See Also: Bubbles Was 'Sick' Of People Asking About Tipperary Hurling Return
