Former Cork City defender Brian Lenihan: I feel lucky to have a second chance at life after darkest days

Former Cork City defender Brian Lenihan has revealed that the real reason he retired from football at the age of just 23 was the mental illness which led him to attempt to take his own life last year.

When the then Hull City player announced his retirement in April “on medical advice”, it was widely assumed a succession of injury problems had taken an irreparable toll on the Cork-born player.

But in an interview with Trevor Welch on the Hard Knock Sports Cork podcast, he has now spoken openly about what he calls “a really dark period” in his life in 2017 and also described how, with medical help, he was able to make the journey back into the light.