Dublin GAA legend Philly McMahon said he gets triggered every time he sees a homeless person on the street after his late brother’s own experience of homelessness.
The GAA star lost his older brother John in 2012, aged 31, after a long battle with addiction and has told how his death changed him as a person and his attitude towards addiction.
The All-Ireland winner from Ballymun said he also finds it upsetting to see homeless people on the streets, after witnessing the heartbreaking reality of living rough first hand through his brother, saying: “It’s close to home.”
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“Everytime I walk down the street and I see a homeless person it triggers me,” he told Irish Daily Mirror.
“Because my brother was homeless at one point when he was going through his addiction.
“When I was playing for Dublin we would have gone in to feed the homeless, but nobody would have seen it on social media because we did it for the right reasons.
“We did it to connect, stay grounded and to give energy to people who are struggling. For me, it is close to home.”
“There are a lot of people on the streets and society has let them down. They should be supported and sheltered, so they have every opportunity to get back into society.”
The father of one, 35, also told of his upset when he learned one of his school friends had also found himself living rough in Dublin.
“I remember walking over the Ha’Penny Bridge and recognising a friend I went to school with, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I sat down with him and asked him how it happened. Basically, he was living with his girlfriend, they had a fight and he wrecked the house. He ended up getting into trouble, he did time for it and he had nowhere to go when he got out.
“His parents passed away and he had nowhere to live. It is the same with people struggling with their mental health, ending up in an addiction cycle and ending up on the streets.
“In family homes around the country, there are people worried about their loved ones on the street, especially in winter. It is really sad.”
“I am very fortunate to have a roof over my head, food on the table and clothes on my back.
“These people are not so lucky.”
Philly was speaking to launch Focus Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy’s call for Shine A Light Night on Friday, 14 participants, to raise vital funds to help end family homelessness in Ireland.
According to the latest government figures, 10,568 people are currently in emergency accommodation as of June 2022, making this year’s sleep-out more important than ever.
The footballer is calling on people to sleep out to help out and said: “It is a reality that could face any one of us and giving up just one night, together we can make a real difference.
“The goal is to raise €1.5m this year and I’ll be doing my bit by trying to raise as much money as possible and sleeping out in my garden on the night.”
The footballer and GAA pundit, who runs his own fitness centre, also opened up about how becoming a father for the first time has shifted his mindset.
He welcomed a son, Leannain, with wife Sarah Lacey last February, and said: “When you have sh*t days and you go home to Leannain, it makes everything go away. You stop worrying about other things in life because he takes your worry.
“Your worries shift towards him instead of other things in life. You think you have one eye on the future a little bit as well. It’s probably easier to say ‘No’ to things. Before we had Leannain, I found it very hard to say ‘No’ and would have done loads of stuff.”
Asked how fatherhood has changed him as a person, he said: “I am a soft person off the pitch, that is my alter ego on the pitch.
“For me, I have nieces and nephews and I love being around them and having the craic. I love being that uncle they all want to hang around with,” he added.
And the eight time All Ireland admitted he can’t wait to see if his own son follows in his footsteps on the field kitting out for the boys in blue some day.
I will be getting him into a couple of different sports anyway and whichever he latches on to, I’ll be happy once he’s happy,” he said.
“But I would love to see him in a Dublin jersey and a Ballymun jersey in years to come.”
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