Depression offers a different angle to the latest Kilkenny book

WHEN THE great Kilkenny hurling team of recent vintage was in its prime, the camp had a reputation for being a tight-knit unit, with precious little in the way of gossip emanating from their tough training sessions which became the stuff of legend.

However, an influx of retirements has been followed by the release of various books plus the involvement of several former greats in the national media.

Even the main man himself, Brian Cody, collaborated with Martin Breheny for an autobiography, although he did give a master class in keeping his cards close to his chest.

As a result, when news of the release of ‘Camouflage - Eoin Larkin - My Story’ came my way, my first thought centred around what he could possibly say that hadn’t been covered already by some of his former colleagues.

And it’s true that we’ve heard a lot of what’s dealt with in his book before, such as their dislike for the Cork team of their era, and the often brutally tough in-house matches in Nowlan Park where Cody would conveniently lose his whistle and see how many of his boys had the bottle to become men.

Larkin really needed something different, something fresh and new, to build his story around, and he duly delivered by opening up to journalist

Pat Nolan about his ongoing issues with depression.

The nuts and bolts of his problems don’t fully surface until more than 140 pages into his memoir.

Up to that it’s largely a look back at his glittering playing career and the array of honours that he collected, notably eight All-Ireland Senior medals and a hurler of the year accolade.

Despite having all he wanted from the point of view of success and fan recognition, Larkin was hiding something that meant his self-worth was at rock bottom.

And it was only one year after his retirement from the inter-county scene in 2015 that he confronted his depression head on.

It came after playing a game for James Stephens, with Cody - who was a selector with his club as well as being the Kilkenny boss - picking up on his poor body language and general attitude.

It prompted a simple phone call to Larkin the following morning to ask if everything was okay, and at that moment an alarm bell went off and he realised that he needed help.

The Kilkenny city native, who now lives in Callan, had a long stint in the army and had tours of duty in Kosovo and Syria before changing jobs.

He now seems to have found his true niche in the marketing department of a local radio station, and he is still going strong with ‘The Village’ on the club scene, playing at centre-back in last Sunday’s county final defeat to Ballyhale Shamrocks.

Larkin has a complicated family background, and it’s difficult to keep up with it at times.

His parents separated and both went on to re-marry, so his siblings include a brother who is younger than two of the children in his own house.

One of those, the eldest, is not his biological son, while he only learned in the very recent past of the existence of another sister from a relationship his father had before meeting his mother.

Establishing a connection with her has clearly meant a great deal to him, and it has left him in a contented place.

However, he knows that his depression needs to be carefully managed, and he’s just hopeful that it won’t return to haunt him. ALAN AHERNE

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