Oisín McConville lauds Conn Kilpatrick: 'Just after winning an All-Ireland... the bravery of it'

Former Armagh footballer Oisín McConville has praised Tyrone footballer Conn Kilpatrick’s admission about his gambling addiction

All-Ireland winning Tyrone midfield Conn Kilpatrick has revealed his battle with a gambling addiction. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

Former Armagh footballer Oisín McConville has described the societal issue of problem gambling as greater than ever, following Tyrone footballer Conn Kilpatrick’s admission about his own addiction.

The All-Ireland winner admitted on Claire Byrne Live that he had ran up debts of over €10,000 with a gambling addiction and a subsequent relapse.

“I was borrowing from friends and family, my brother, my granny, different friends and just anywhere where I could get the money,” Kilpatrick said.

“I was maybe saying that I needed to pay the car payment or I was going on holidays and was a bit short and I needed a bit more.

“To be honest, I could come up with a lie as quick as I could do anything. Whatever I needed to say to get it, I probably did say it.”

McConville’s own addiction with gambling was laid bare in his 2007 autobiography. He has since become a trained addiction counsellor and admits that he takes calls from people daily with similar issues.

“I think that the problem itself is more prevalent than ever. We live in a very small place and you are asked for your help,” said McConville.

“You might not be the first port of call but it is more prevalent than it has ever been and I look at it as a societal thing. Society is in real bother and the GAA just reflects what is going on in society.

Oisín McConville

“I think to be honest, the biggest thing for me is the level of the crisis. There’s no obvious explanation for that.

"When I say that, I am talking about the level of debt, the level of impact it is having on sport, occupations, college, relationships, families.

You don’t see people gambling until they reach crisis point and that can be more enlarged than it has ever been, to be honest.

Part of the problem in dealing with these addictions is the waiting list for treatment centres. McConville reports that there is a three-month wait to get help.

“But this is a daily thing, we are meeting people on a daily basis,” he adds.

It is only through talking through his own issues that he realised it could have a positive impact, and it has helped him unearth more revelations about himself that allows him to make sense of it.

“When I started talking about it, the majority of the reasoning for that was for myself. How that would impact on myself and what lasting impression it would have in my life,” he reveals.

“I never thought of doing anything about it. I just thought I was a gambler and hadn’t thought about what had gone on in my past or different things like that.

“Once you look at it in those sort of terms, once it is highlighted in that way you start to think of it in a different way.

“I think everybody who talks about it hits another person or two and I think it is important that – let’s face it – I am getting on a bit. I am 46 now in a week or so. And I think it’s very important that young people in society see somebody, the next person who wants to talk about it.” 

That’s why he is heartened that someone with the profile of Kilpatrick, a recent All-Ireland winner, is choosing to talk candidly about the issues he has faced.

Tyrone players including Darren McCurry and Conn Kilpatrick celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

“The likes of Conn coming out last night is someone who is obviously in the public domain, just after winning an All-Ireland. I think the timing of it, the bravery of it.

“I know people talk of it as ‘bravery’ and it can sound patronising, but it is not in any way. It is very pertinent for him to come out the way he did.

“I couldn’t believe the impact just talking about it had and we have seen Niall McNamee and other people talking about it. People in all walks of society who are talking about it.” 

He continues: “I think the other really important part of this too is that, let’s face it, Conn Kilpatrick had struggled to break into the Tyrone team. He got his stuff together off the field and all of a sudden it comes together on the field.

“If this is how we have to sell this, then we have to be like sales reps and sell a better life. We will do whatever we have to do, but that’s the evidence right there.”