Hard road takes a happy turn for Shanahan

2014 was the worst year of Maurice Shanahan's life.

A zipped up bag of demons weighed so heavily on the Lismore and Waterford hurler back then, that he saw no way out. All his life, hurling was his game, it was his passion but when he zipped the bag tighter and the walls caved in, Shanahan didn't want anything to do with it. Those were the darkest days he can remember, when he'd cry on the way down to Waterford training and then, after wearing a brave face for an hour and a half on the field, he'd cry on the way back home too. But while 2014 was unquestionably the worst year of his life, it was also the turning point that has kept this man alive. You can talk all you want about injuries, about expectations and about setbacks but the reality is that everyone, at some stage in their lives, will stumble into a challenge they never wanted to face down. No, Shanahan's biggest problem, as he says himself, was his own 'pride,' a pride that prevented him from talking, that prevented him from sharing his problems and eventually, bogged him down to the extent that he was barely even living. [caption id="attachment_227423" align="alignnone" width="1000"] On the face of it, Maurice Shanahan had it all going for him in 2014. Inside, he was suffering.[/caption] Eventually he cracked, and that he did was the best thing that has ever happened to him. "I was a proud fella, and I didn't want to talk about my troubles back then," says the Darkness Into Light ambassador in what turned out to be a powerful interview. "When I was going through those problems at the start, I didn't want my family worrying about me, 'This will just pass'."