Meath full back and captain Kevin Reilly has expressed his surprise at some of the negative reaction to his tackle on Kildare’s Paddy Brophy in their Leinster football semi-final.

Kildare manager Jason Ryan described it as “a knock-out”, and it did end Brophy’s interest in the game, although Reilly is adamant it was both fair and in no way overly physical.

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

“It was nothing more than a collision, and I think it has been blown out of all proportion. I’ve been playing intercounty football 10 years. I have been sent off once, for two yellow cards. In terms of physicality, any full back or any player is going to be physical, and if you are not at this stage the way the game is you are going to be sitting on the sideline and somebody else is going to be in there.

“I was just challenging for a ball. I actually fell over him. There was nothing more than that. You go as hard as you can for the ball as long as it is there. But in this case it was actually a collision and we fell over.”

Reilly also pointed to a heavy tackle by one of the Kildare players on Bryan McMahon, who ended his interest in the game after just nine minutes: “That was quite a nasty challenge (on McMahon). A Kildare player came down with his elbow, on his head and then fell on top of him. It’s part of the game, it happens. It’s not nice but it happens and we get on with it. No point in whingeing and moaning about it either.”

Reilly has also declared himself fit the Leinster final showdown against Dublin on Sunday week, having recovered from knee strain picked up in the Kildare game.