Kerry football legend and Armagh coach Kieran Donaghy opened up about his father’s struggle with alcoholism and gambling on the Tommy Tiernan Show on Saturday night.
“My dad had some issues with drink and gambling, and he’d a tough enough journey on his own,” he said. “I felt I always had anger for him for being missing that part of my life when you need your dad the most, kind of 12 to 18 age group. “People just kind of left everybody alone. Everybody kind of minded their own business. There was no one grabbing him and saying ‘You’re going to mess this up here.’Kieran recalled that his dad had gone drinking and went missing for a few days after he was part of the Kerry team that lost to Cork in the under-21 All-Ireland final.
Kieran told Tommy that his dad has missed a lot and his kids often ask where his father is, and his eldest daughter gets emotional at the fact that he’s not around. Kieran said he had changed the dog’s name to ‘Buddy’ to avoid the confusion of having two ‘Stars’ in the house, and mentioned that the dog had also passed away in recent years.