By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH footballer Justin Kieran recently spoke out about his mental health issue and has encouraged others to follow in his footsteps if they need help. Kieran was concerned about his relationship with alcohol and decided to turn his life around.

The former Orchard u-20 captain recently sat on a panel alongside Chris Kerr and Diarmaid McConville during an Armagh GAA mental health event called ‘Let’s keep talking,’ where he opened up on his own personal challenges.

Public speaking doesn’t really come naturally to the 24-year-old, but Kieran, who owns his own gym in Blackwatertown called Everyday Performance, is happy to use his experience to help others in need.

“It’s massively important to speak out about it,” he said. “It’s something I tried to control for a while myself, which is impossible to do. It’s like anything with mental health, anytime you share anything, everyone says the problem halves and that’s what it was for me.

“I still speak daily to other people with a similar issue to me and that definitely helps me on my journey and it’s definitely helping other people as well.”

Kieran’s relationship with alcohol was no longer an enjoyable one and with the help of a couple of close friends, he was able to deal with those challenges that were affecting his life on and off the football field.

Kieran is now back on the Armagh squad, having dropped off last season to spend the summer in America, and is hoping to push on and see some game time as the All-Ireland champions defend their crown.

The tricky corner-forward first aired his concerns via a social media posts, which helped him on his journey.

“It was actually whenever I took to social media, I didn’t expect the response I was going to get from other people my age.

“Obviously, people who don’t know enough about alcohol awareness, they would think it’s going to be 50-year-olds or 60-year-olds (that have an issue with alcohol) just because of their lack of knowledge on it.

“People would think you have to be homeless or whatever. That’s just what people’s narrative of alcoholism is but to me, I wanted to stop the problem when I was 24 rather than wait until I’m 34 or 44 and so on. Why wait when I can do something about it now.

“It definitely has been tough. There’s no point saying it isn’t, but I made the point that it may be tough, but the days I’ve had after a binge of drinking or whatever, are much tougher. So, it has been tough, but as I say, I’ve got great people around me.

“Speaking out is definitely the best thing I’ve ever did because people care about you. People would have liked you in the pub or whatever, but people that really care about you like you as the person you are rather than the person you are in bars or whatever.”