Busy Philly McMahon happy to bide his time before making management leap

Many sports people find it difficult to come to terms with the end of their time as an elite athlete.

But former Dublin footballer Philly McMahon hasn't had much anguish about ending his 15-year inter-county career last Christmas. Not yet anyway.

As a business owner, new father (to seventh-month old Lennon), Bohemian FC performance coach and fledgling pundit, it seems like he just hasn't had the time to dwell on it.

"I've spoken to a couple of lads over the last couple of weeks about this and a few of them have openly said they've struggled a little bit," he tells RTÉ Sport.

"I was trying to understand what they were struggling with because I don't think I was aware I was struggling with it. I was trying to think, 'What are you're struggling with so that if I’m struggling with that then I know I’m struggling?'

"So I don’t know if I’m aware of the struggles of that but I do know what has helped me really transition is doing the punditry work [he has an Irish Independent column].

"It has really helped me keep the stories alive. It’s like counselling in many ways because you’re talking about your career and the stories you have there inside you and when you speak about them, it’s no different to when you have a mental-health issue and you’re speaking about it. Any trauma you have and you’re talking about it.

"Doing the stuff around the column and the podcast has helped me massively to transition. I think if I didn’t do that I would have locked a lot of stuff up and it would have hit me eventually I suppose."

What exactly does he do with Bohs, the League of Ireland club based in Phibsborough? He could tell you but then...

"A performance coach is like a CIA agent," he jokes. "You try to make sure that the information you're gathering