Waterford All-Star reveals battle with depression almost cost him his life

Inspirational revelation for one of the country's biggest hurling stars.

Maurice Shanahan picked up his first ever All-Star award last night. His scoring exploits helped Waterford secure the league title in the spring, and reach an All-Ireland semi-final in August where they lost to Kilkenny. The Lismore clubman, however, almost didn't feature at all for the Deise this season. He revealed, on Friday night, his battle with depression that almost forced him away from hurling. The 25-year-old is certainly never lacking for confidence on the pitch but speaking on RTE's Drivetime just hours before picking up his first All-Star award, he described how low his confidence in himself had become before this season:

"Last year was a bad year for me, but thankfully I am here today to tell that tale. I am here today because of my Waterford team-mates and my club Lismore, because of my family, my friends and my girlfriend. They got me through the bad times. "I was suffering from depression, big time. It got on top of me and I couldn’t take any more of it. "I started to lock myself into rooms after work. I’d go to work and when I came home, I’d lock myself into a room. I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to go to the hurling field. I didn’t want to do anything, I just wanted to lock myself away from it."

https://twitter.com/maryroche/status/662728126548439040 Shanhan admitted that things had got so bleak for him that he wasn't sure if he would be able to continue living until he received some much needed help:

"I suffered for around two months before the help was given to me because my life was nearly taken. Only for that help… I knew them people were out there, but I never thought them people would understand my situation at the time. But thankfully they did."

https://twitter.com/damienrte/status/662676378370875392 The corner-forward now admits he is in a much better place and has thanked those who helped him in his recovery. He also singled out two men in particular for heling battle with depression and recover his love for life and hurling:

"The manager of the Lismore team at the time was Sean Prendergast. He is the local primary school principal below in Lismore and I could hear the bell ringing every day telling me school was finished. The minute the bell was after ringing, Sean was at my house trying to get me out, trying to get me back up to the field. For a while that didn’t work. “Derek McGrath, too, was very good to me. I met Derek last Christmas and I wasn’t even going back playing hurling. ‘We won’t make any rushed decisions tonight’, he said. He said he would give me time to think about it and I said that was grand. I had no interest then, but the interest gradually came back.”

https://twitter.com/emmafitz__/status/662711454731141120 Shanhan also urged anyone suffering with depression to reach out and ask for help

"It doesn’t matter if you play sport or not, whoever is going through a bad time, the one bit of advice I would give them is to always talk to someone. You can’t bottle it up inside because if you do, it could get the better of you. Just pick up the phone and tell a friend, tell anyone. Just talk.”

If you feel the need to talk about any issues surrounding mental health, check out the links below.

• Aware: 1890 303302
• Samaritans: 1850 609090