Barry Hennessy has one message for anyone suffering from an eating disorder – go and ask for help.
The four-time Limerick All-Ireland winning goalkeeper, who is understudy to Nickie Quaid, battled for over a decade with body image issues that led to bulimia.
It was a cycle of behaviour he struggled badly with and at one point he recalls cutting his arm as “a cry for help”.
Read more: Conor McCaughey tributes paid after sudden death of young Tyrone player
At one stage he was throwing up after every meal, while taking five or six protein shakes per day.
Interventions from Kilmallock boss Tony Considine and Limerick legend Ciaran Carey proved to be important for Hennessy.
He told the Players Voice podcast: “Tony basically reached out and told me to, ‘Cop on, get your act together, these protein shakes need to go, you need to mind yourself’.
“He had obviously spoken to my mother and she had filled him in about the protein shakes. They did go to a certain extent.
“It didn’t stop what was going on and I don’t think people ever knew what was going on really.
“It was probably triggered by the parents separating – probably led to a few mental health difficulties and it ended up being what it was.
“There was one incident of self-harm, cutting my arm. That was just a complete cry for help really but I wasn’t willing to go and get help.
“It continued for a couple of years, 2011, 2012, into 2013. There is such a massive stigma with it. You don’t want to be labelled as that person.
“You would never hear about your friends having an episode of just tears in a car, having an eating disorder or suffering from bulimia.
“That was probably self-diagnosed. It was never officially diagnosed but I had the trace tendencies of it.”
At a gym session in Young Munster, Carey spoke to him. “Is that the end of your weight loss now?” he asked.
Hennessy continued: “I said, ‘Ah no, I am good, I am strong’. He said, ‘No, that’s the end of it. You need to mind yourself now’.
“Little things like that do crop up in your head. I never got help with it. I remember going onto a supplement website ordering fat burners. Watching those shopping things on television at midnight and buying into their magic tablet that is going to make you drop weight, you are going to look like the celebrities.
“That could have been absolutely anything you are putting into your system and you didn’t understand it but you are buying into the marketing.
“The vulnerability aspect of it. It played on your emotions and you bought it. You are going to buy into it and go for it. You will go to extreme lengths to hide it.”
Hennessy shared the challenges he faced with food in a group setting with members of the Limerick senior hurling panel and sports psychologist Caroline Currid. The response he got from all his team-mates was totally supportive.
“How freeing it was to get it out there and then the reaction that the lads gave you,” he said. “They said, ‘If we’d known, if you’d reached out, we would have been there for you’.
“That’s why I am speaking about it. I’d say reach out if you are in any sort of difficulty.
“I got known as the fella who was super healthy – that didn’t eat takeaway, didn’t eat chocolate, didn’t eat ice cream or anything like that, who didn’t eat rubbish in general. There’s a persona you are going to have to keep up. It fitted in well with the inter-county player persona.
“I hid it. I hid it extremely well. People didn’t know it was going on, both people very close to me and even the Limerick lads at the time.
“With everything that went on in the past, I probably would have isolated myself and excluded myself from the group.
“I’d have not gone on nights out. I was the fella that didn’t drink or eat rubbish. I would have missed out on a lot of the stories the lads would have in training.
“You are there going, ‘Jesus, I was never part of that – I missed out on that’. That was my own decision at the time.
“But I’m conscious of that, since 2018, the best part of what we are doing now is the memories with the lads outside of training and experiences we have had as opposed to what we have won. They are things that will carry through with you.”
READ NEXT:
Pat Gilroy linked with shock return to Dublin set-up in 2023
- Donegal can adapt playing style -but not at any cost says new coach Aidan O'Rourke
Cargin overdue a win in the Ulster Club Championship admits captain James Laverty
St Paul’s Ulster Minor Football Tournament returns after two-year hiatus
Kerry All Star feels Ulster sides will challenge for Sam Maguire in 2023
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
