Sunderland and Republic of Ireland striker Aaron Connolly has opened up on an addiction to alcohol that has blighted his professional career. To mark World Mental Health Day, Connolly has spoken about the problems that he has faced for the last few years. The 24-year-old said he spent a month in rehab this summer after leaving Hull City and the experience has led to rejuvenation in his life.

Connolly joined the Black Cats, who are top of the Championship, last month as a free agent. Connolly was a highly talented teenager who came over from Ireland when he was 15 to move to Brighton and Hove Albion. A prolific scorer for Brighton's under-23 team, it was not long before he was making his first Premier League start, aged just 19 in October 2019. He scored two that day as the Seagulls beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0, but rather than being the first step on the way to a successful career at the top level, he believes that it was exactly the opposite.

"That's probably where my career started to go downhill when it really should have been carrying on upwards," Connolly said. "I just stopped doing the things that got me to that position. I just stopped working hard and you can't do that. I started to believe the hype. I became a tough person to be around. Nobody could tell me anything." He only managed three more goals in the top flight as his promising youth career did not translate into sustained success at the top level. There were loan spells with Middlesbrough in the Championship and then with Venezia in Italy's Serie B, but that was cut short to allow Connolly to move to Hull, initially on loan before signing a one-year deal. "The loans were a sign of what I was doing because I should have been playing week-in, week-out for Brighton," he said. "From where I was to where I ended up, something clearly went wrong."

Connolly, who has won nine Republic of Ireland caps, said he had always been warned of the dangers of drinking by his parents because of a family history of problems. In his words, he "didn't listen" to their concerns. Instead he became more interested in the trappings of fame that go with being a well-paid professional athlete. But rather than thriving as a Premier League footballer, his lifestyle was holding him back.

"It was obvious I had a problem with alcohol for a good few years," he said. "It just became something I relied on. My buzz used to come from football and scoring goals, but the buzz became more from going out drinking alcohol than going out on the football pitch. I used to look forward to the games finishing so I could go and socialise. That was an excuse to go and get drunk." Despite scoring eight goals for Hull last season, Aaron Connolly's addiction was becoming 'unmanageable'

Connolly's moment of truth came this summer. Released by Hull, the striker recognised that despite having a relatively successful season on the pitch, his life off it had spiralled out of control. Unable to pick up the phone when his heartbroken parents were trying to ring, Connolly had reached his lowest ebb so took himself into rehabilitation for a month for help with his addiction.

"It was too much. I couldn't live the way I was living because it was killing people around me - my family, my friends - and mainly it was killing me really," he said. "My life was so unmanageable. I couldn't control my alcohol. It got to a point where I had to make a decision that I needed to go to a treatment clinic. I told my agent not to contact any clubs. I wasn't doing this for football. I was doing this so I could get my life back. It wasn't even the football that was taking the biggest battering, but my relationships, my family, my friends. Everything was failing and falling apart. I couldn't get hold of my addiction. It was the toughest thing I've ever had to do to go in there. It was the best and worst month of my life. I learned so much in there."

Connolly says the decision to speak about his alcohol problem is an attempt to help others face up to their own problems, regardless of their background or walk of life. Now the striker is attempting to rebuild his career at Sunderland where he has been for the last few weeks and he was an unused substitute in the draw with Leeds United last week. But he says that his boyish enthusiasm for the game he grew up loving is beginning to return. Most importantly, he believes that he is making his family and friends proud again. "After the last few months, it's great to just be back playing football," he said. "To be around a good group of people, good gaffer, good coaching staff, good people and to have a football at my feet, I couldn't be any happier."

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND attacker Aaron Connolly has revealed he is in recovery from alcohol addiction after recognising that his lifestyle was causing serious harm both to himself and to his loved ones. Connolly, who joined English Championship side Sunderland on a one-year deal in September, spent a month in a treatment clinic over the summer and says he now “couldn’t be any happier” as he attempts to rebuild his life and reignite his football career. The Galway native, 24, laid bare his years-long dependence on alcohol in an in-house video interview with Sunderland, which Connolly’s new employers published as part of World Mental Health Day.

Connolly, who has nine senior caps for Ireland, admitted that his relationship with alcohol reached the point he would look forward to going drinking while playing football matches. But the former Brighton winger stressed that while his on-field career trajectory took a downward turn due to his addiction, his personal life ‘took the biggest beating’ as he broke the hearts of his parents and loved ones. Connolly pinpointed his revelatory two-goal performance for Brighton against Tottenham in 2019 as a turning point for the worse, while also confirming that the English PFA contributed to the cost of his treatment over the summer.

‘It was obvious I had a problem with alcohol. It was killing the people around me and it was killing me.’On #WorldMentalHealthDay, Aaron Connolly opens up about the impact of addiction and tells his story in his own words. "I don’t know how to put this bluntly… it was obvious I had a problem with alcohol for a good few years," Connolly said. "I had my parents — who never drank before — always telling me when I was younger and when I’d go out, they’d always advise me to stay away from alcohol. It was always their thing because of addiction to alcohol in my family. I didn’t listen, clearly, and it got me in a lot of trouble. It got me a lot of problems and it just became something that I relied on. It felt like my buzz used to come from football, winning games and scoring goals, and it got to a point where the buzz was more from drinking alcohol than going out on a football pitch. That was where I got my buzz from, whereas before, it was always the buzz of football and the buzz of being around an environment like I am now and feeling the way I am now: excited to play football,” Connolly added. “Whereas for three or four years, that just wasn’t there."

Connolly says he came to the realisation in late July that his lifestyle had become untenable. He credited his manager at Hull City last season, Liam Rosenior, for efforts to help him, but said that his life had become “unmanageable” before he was released by the Tigers in June. Ultimately, Connolly sought professional help and checked into a treatment facility. He made the decision not to save his football career, he explained, but to ‘get his life back.’ "I decided, I think it was the end of July, that it was too much. I couldn’t do it," Connolly said. "I had one of my best seasons last year at Hull but off the pitch, my life was a mess. The manager at Hull, to be fair, always looked after me and always tried to help, but I just got to a point where… it wasn’t like life wasn’t worth living it — it was just my life was so unmanageable and I couldn’t control what I’d do or I couldn’t control my alcohol. If stuff in football comes with that”, Connolly added, “then that’s a bonus. But it wasn’t even the football in the end that was taking the biggest beating. It was my life, my relationships, my family, my friends. Everything was just failing and falling apart.

Connolly said that he had decided to open up about his alcohol addiction in the hope that it would help people in similar situations to come to the same realisation as he did back in July. He stressed that alcohol dependency is not always conspicuous and can affect anyone, regardless of their personal circumstances. "I had everything that any young boy would dream of and I couldn’t get hold of my addiction," Connolly said. "This isn’t just to help just footballers. I know there’s people out there that could be in the Sunderland area, the Brighton area, the Hull area — I’m just saying them for examples of clubs I’ve played at. I was grateful that the PFA helped me out with the cost of the treatment centre. I know some people might not be in that position to be able to afford it, but I just wanted to speak about it [to show people] that it’s not just a park bench and a vodka bottle, that’s not it. Anybody can get affected by it. There’s no price tag or there’s no amount of money in the world that can cure it. It’s a disease, it’s an illness and I never thought of it like that until I decided that I needed to go to the clinic. It was the best and worst month of my life."

Connolly pointed back towards his explosive introduction to Premier League football as the moment from which his struggles began. His first league start for Brighton came when he was 19, the Oranmore man scoring two goals in a 3-0 victory over Tottenham. Connolly describes it as “one of the best days of my life but also one of the worst”, admitting that it led to his becoming complacent at a critical developmental juncture in his career. "Being put straight into the biggest league in the world, scoring two goals: that’s probably the start of when my career started to go downhill, when really it should have been carrying on upwards," said Connolly. "I just stopped doing the things that got me to that position where I felt so comfortable on the biggest stage. I just stopped working, I stopped working hard and you can’t do it. People always say hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard, and I never ever really thought about it. But it’s true — and in my case it was. I remember it: 5 October 2019. It was a 12:30 kickoff. I’m never going to forget that day. It was one of the best days of my life but also one of the worst as well. I just stopped working and doing the things that I should have kept doing. I started to believe the hype and I didn’t turn into a good person after that. I was tough to be around. Nobody could tell me anything — that’s what I believed. It’s obviously not true but that was genuinely what I thought at the time. I didn’t know how to deal with (newfound fame), if I’m being honest. My parents tried. They weren’t living with me. I was living with my ex-girlfriend at the time and it’s hard because I didn’t ever feel like I had that authoritative figure to keep me grounded — even though my parents did try. But I just let myself believe everything that people were saying online and it just, I don’t know… it just took over and I stopped. I stopped doing the stuff that got me paid for that, and that was working hard every day.

Asked how a football fan might describe him after his career downturn since 2019, Connolly said: “I think a lot of people would say, ‘He’s arrogant, a waste of potential.’ I’d also like to think that they’d say a goalscorer as well, but I’m not too sure there’s many that’ll have too many positive things to say. But the people close to me know what I’m like and that’s the main thing. But I know the perception of me isn’t the best. I’m not blind to that." Connolly said he deemed that external impression of his character to be unfair, but he equally acknowledged his role in creating it. "To be honest, it did bother me before, people’s perception of me, people that I don’t know. But now, as you grow into the game and you understand football, it’s not really those opinions that matter. It’s the people like the gaffer here (Régis Le Bris), for example, the football club and the people that I’m seeing every day. That’s the opinions that matter. You get pundits, people, fans, the lot; everyone talking about you but that just comes with football, doesn’t it? But yeah, I’ve obviously contributed to a lot of things myself that’s given me that perception, but there’s also things that have been out of my control as well.

Connolly, who signed a one-year deal with Sunderland as a free agent just over a fortnight ago, says he’s now back in his element at the Stadium of Light, where he’ll hope to chase Premier League promotion with Championship-leading Sunderland. "I can’t describe how good it’s been after the last few months," said the 24-year-old. "It’s great to just be back playing football. I’ve had a tough few months so to be around a good group of people, a good gaffer, good coaching staff and just good people, with the football at my feet, I couldn’t be any happier."

HSE addiction services can be contacted at 1800 459 459 or at [email protected]. Alternatively, Alcoholics Anonymous Ireland can be contacted at 01842 0700 or at [email protected].