Sean Cavanagh is worried that the sledging epidemic prevalent in gaelic football could damage players' mental health.

Admitting that both Tyrone and Donegal were equally guilty of the offence in Sunday's bad-spirited Ulster SFC preliminary-round clash at Ballybofey, the former Footballer of the Year believes things are getting out of hand:

"There's no doubting you're going to get that now, the higher the level you go, and the more local rivalries you get. Cavan play Monaghan this weekend, and I've no doubt it'll be rife there as well," the scarred and bruised Red Hands veteran is quoted in The Irish Times.

"Players probably did overstep the mark to a certain extent. You just have to be thick-skinned. At times it can be quite personal. You just have to accept it. I've said it before, it can be very, very personal and I know there were certain players . . that have been through tough times, and they were getting a fair bit of personal abuse.

"I can look that way, call you a name, say something about your family, your child, and no one will ever know. And look, it happens on both sides.

"I'm sure Michael Murphy got chatted to, when he was hitting free kicks. I got chatted to whenever I was hitting free kicks. It's disappointing to see, and I don't know how you can stop somebody whispering in somebody's ear.

"And there is so much talk now on mental health of players, and all that, and there are players in dark places. You would hope that it doesn't come to the stage that some player tries to do something silly, or something like that, if he has been abused, or has had a bad game, and people have really gotten on his case."

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