DESSIE FARRELL SAYS that the mental health issues which rocked his Dublin U21 team this year are simmering in every dressing room across the country.
The GPA president and All-Ireland winning U21 manager questioned himself and his management methods when star player Shane Carthy disclosed to him his battle with depression.
“It brought it home in a really stark fashion. Just to be aware that somebody who you care deeply about and who you’ve known for a long, long time – one of your players – it makes you think about everything and the effect that it can have,” explained Farrell.
“Things you’ve been doing or saying. The environment or culture you’ve established amongst the group. You question a lot of things, primarily on the basis that you can see the turmoil in front of your eyes in a young man’s life or the torment that’s going on in his head.
“For him to deal with that or suffer in silence with it for so long, it was a bit of a wake-up call to be fair.”
The Dublin county board announced earlier this month that U21 and senior footballer Shane Carthy was receiving treatment for depression. The 19-year-old had just been named man of the match in the Leinster U21 final just a month earlier.
“I guarantee you those issues are going on in every dressing room in the country,” said Farrell. ”We’ve had our own experience within the 21 group and I know in senior dressing rooms around the country, there’s a lot of this that hasn’t emerged.
“And it’s about talking about this and getting it out in the open before we get to the sad situation like the one we had last year with Niall Donoghue.”
The late Niall Donohue. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
Dessie managed Carthy at minor level for the county before this year’s U21 team, and he’s determined to use the influence of the GAA and the GPA to increase awareness over such mental health concerns .
“A manager may not be the best placed within a squad setup to detect it. Because there is that space between players and management that needs to be there.
“But it’s trying to come up with ways that you can actually identify certain situations. A dip in performance is one aspect of it. But in our situation, Shane got man of the match in the Leinster final. Yet he had this thing going on in his life that nobody knew about.
“So it’s not even performance related on some occasions. It can be parents, team-mates, friends. So being able to identify the signs is the next step that we need to get to.”
Dessie had to do without Carthy for the All-Ireland final this year. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
“You can spot within players that might not fit in that easily. They might be a little bit younger or they might be the only player for a certain club and they might be coming to training on their own.
“They can operate in isolation at times. So it’s important that you’re reaching out and putting the arm around. But generally, players are really, really good.
“And I know from our situation, that they dealt with it so sensitively and so maturely despite the fact that they were young men.”
*******
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, please see the numbers below.
'For him to suffer in silence with it for so long, it was a bit of a wake-up call'
DESSIE FARRELL SAYS that the mental health issues which rocked his Dublin U21 team this year are simmering in every dressing room across the country.
The GPA president and All-Ireland winning U21 manager questioned himself and his management methods when star player Shane Carthy disclosed to him his battle with depression.
“It brought it home in a really stark fashion. Just to be aware that somebody who you care deeply about and who you’ve known for a long, long time – one of your players – it makes you think about everything and the effect that it can have,” explained Farrell.
“For him to deal with that or suffer in silence with it for so long, it was a bit of a wake-up call to be fair.”
The Dublin county board announced earlier this month that U21 and senior footballer Shane Carthy was receiving treatment for depression. The 19-year-old had just been named man of the match in the Leinster U21 final just a month earlier.
“And it’s about talking about this and getting it out in the open before we get to the sad situation like the one we had last year with Niall Donoghue.”
Dessie managed Carthy at minor level for the county before this year’s U21 team, and he’s determined to use the influence of the GAA and the GPA to increase awareness over such mental health concerns .
“A manager may not be the best placed within a squad setup to detect it. Because there is that space between players and management that needs to be there.
“So it’s not even performance related on some occasions. It can be parents, team-mates, friends. So being able to identify the signs is the next step that we need to get to.”
“You can spot within players that might not fit in that easily. They might be a little bit younger or they might be the only player for a certain club and they might be coming to training on their own.
“And I know from our situation, that they dealt with it so sensitively and so maturely despite the fact that they were young men.”
*******
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, please see the numbers below.
Helplines:
Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
Console 1800 201 890 – (suicide prevention, self-harm, bereavement)
Aware 1890 303 302 (depression, anxiety)
Pieta House 01 601 0000 or email mary@pieta.ie - (suicide, self-harm, bereavement)
Teen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
Childline 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)
Dublin GAA star Shane Carthy’s depression battle revealed
‘We Wear More’ – GPA aim to uncover the mental health issues beneath the county jersey
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Dessie Farrell GPA Mental Health Shane Carthy Dublin