Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’d give up my six All-ireland medals to still have my brother John
Pain at sibling’s loss to heroin
GAA star Philly Mcmahon would give up every one of his six Allireland medals just to have his brother back.
The Dublin ace, 31, has revealed the death of his older sibling John from a heroin overdose in 2012 was “the half-time talk of my life”.
In a highly personal documentary, two-time GAA All Star Philly explores the underbelly of addiction and makes a case for decriminalising drugs.
The left corner back believes his older brother “never had a chance” after taking his first hit of heroin in a lift at the Ballymun towers at the age of 14. He was 31 when he died.
Philly said: “In all my years playing football for Dublin my number one goal has never changed – to get that blue jersey and to wear it as many times as possible.
“I never got a chance to share any of it with John. I’d give all my All-irelands to still have him here with me today.
“I am Ballymun, it’s in my blood and it’s made me the man I am. Growing up, for me, it was a colourful, magical place to be, playing football against the towers.
“There were five kids in our family. I was the baby and John was the older brother I adored. He was 6ft 4ins – he got the height, I didn’t. Heroin ripped through Dublin in the 80s and 90s and Ballymun, the place I loved, was at the heart of this epidemic.
“Drugs were a part of all our worlds growing up but for John, it became part of his every day.
“It started with the hash and a few hits of acid and then one day, in a lift at the bottom of the tower, John took his first hit of heroin. He was 14.
“I would have known he was an addict. It got to the stage where he was taking things and selling things. You’d find tin foil around the house from him smoking heroin.
“John’s drug problem pushed me further towards football. I didn’t understand John’s addiction, I didn’t know how to cope so I threw all my time and energy into playing.
“When all the lads I grew up with were getting into trouble, I had football. That’s what saved me.”
Philly, who changed his surname from Caffrey – his mother’s – to Mcmahon – his dad’s – to distance himself from his brother, admits he was ashamed of John’s drug-taking.
But now he wants to use his experience of stigma and addiction to help others.
In the course of the documentary, he travels to Portugal to witness how decriminalising drugs and treating addiction as a health issue have helped tackle the problem.
And he tells how running a body conditioning programme for inmates of a progression unit in Mountjoy Prison has given him a chance to inspire others.
Philly said: “To walk in and
ON BROTHER’S ADDICTION
see five or six of my mates in front of me was an eye-opener and I took it as an opportunity to help them change their lives and change their thoughts.
“If I wasn’t playing sport would I have gone down the same route as most of the guys who hung around on Sloane Road?
“Probably. It just depends.
“It’s very easy to fall into that trap. You can get a bag of drugs and walk across the road and you can get three or four grand for it. That’s how easy it is to be trapped.
“I would be happier to be remembered for supporting and helping others than I would for the All-ireland medals I have.” The documentary was filmed before the GAA star’s dad Phil lost his battle with cancer earlier this year aged 64 and it opens with him blowing out candles on his birthday cake.
Philly said: “I was named after my dad. He taught me to be resilient, he taught me to be tough. He battled cancer head-on with his own sense of humour. My love of sport came from my da.”
Phil Senior told the cameras: “He was always into football. I took him playing football in a field, I’d have him practising his headers.
“They [Philly and John] loved each other. I know they never got to say it probably but my eyes watched both of them growing up. They were brothers until they die.”
In another poignant scene, Philly and his mother looked over old photos as they discussed the tragic loss of both John and Phil. Valerie said: “How, coming into my house on drugs, was he able to hide it? He never had a chance, he was so young.
“What child at 11 or 12 taking drugs has a chance? Their brains must be mushed.”
In a direct reference to her son’s autobiography, The Choice, she added: “Philly didn’t want to be like John, that was the two roads, that was the choice.
“Philly made his choice. Philly stayed with the football and John went with the drugs.” Philly also interviewed addicts in recovery for the programme and talked to other families who have lost loved ones through addiction.
And calling for a change in attitudes in Ireland, he said: “It took time but I finally understand what John was going through. We need change, we owe it to the ghosts of overdoses.
“They are someone’s father, someone’s mother, someone’s sister. It was my brother, John.” Philly Mcmahon: The Hardest Hit is on RTE One tomorrow at 9.30pm.