RTÉ presenter Darragh Maloney opens up about counselling after father's death

Popular RTÉ sports presenter Darragh Maloney has opened up about seeking help to cope with the grief after the death of his father.

His father Pat was only 66 years old when he died in 2013 and Darragh described the loss as leaving a huge hole in the family.

A turning point came when his mother Mary said he looked "grey" on television and he decided to go to counselling.

He told the RTÉ Guide: "Counselling helped me hugely at that time because for a while I tried to ignore it. I wanted to bury the grief but after several months it came back at me bad, and I was in bits".

"My mother saw me on the telly and thought that I looked grey in the face. She told me to get home and get talking to somebody," he said.

The late Pat Maloney was a very popular lecturer at the National Botanic Gardens. 

The experience of therapy was positive and the presenter says he now prioritises his mental health and wellbeing.

 "I was lucky that I found a counsellor who I clicked with, and he knew what I needed to talk about. But you also must be open to talking about yourself; you're either going to share the information or you're not," he told the RTÉ Guide. 

"I'm now big into mindfulness and looking after my mental health and I wasn't always like that, but the death of my father changed that," he said.