The Cathal McCarron book promises to be one of the most troubling and fascinating sports autobiographies of recent times.
Tyrone footballer McCarron's journey to hell and back - which encompassed stealing from friends and family and taking part in gay pornography in order to satisfy a gambling habit - is generally well known amongst GAA fans, but the details of the story have always been slightly shady. That will end at the end of this month when McCarron's autobiography, entitled 'Out of Control', is released.
As part of the book's promotion McCarron has been speaking to 'The Irish News' about the time when he appeared in the pornographic films. His words make for fairly chilling reading.
The company was based in a fancy office block in north London and looked like a legit model agency. It didn't take me long to discover it was something more.
They were a porn company. They enquired if I'd be interested in some work.
The money was an obvious appeal, but the risk was still too great. They sold it to me on the basis that they only dealt with US hotels, where the porn was exclusive to the hotels' pay-per-view channels.
McCarron was against taking part in pornography with men at first but finally took part in it when an offer of £3000 was on the table. And speaking to Brendan Hughes, he described how harrowing he found the experience:
As we had sexual intercourse, I did everything to suppress my real emotions, to dislocate myself from the moment. All I was thinking about was the money I was going to receive afterwards.
When the filming was over I felt physically sick, disgusted that I had allowed myself to sink into such an abyss of degradation and humiliation.
The money lasted barely two days, however - the result of a gambling habit that had consumed McCarron since the age of 18. He estimates that before he was 21, "I had blown around £200,000, most of which I had stolen, the vast majority from my own father."
And it wasn't just relatives who felt the effect of McCarron's addiction - trying to rob a friend's house landed him in difficulties with the IRA, as a man informed him shortly after being caught attempting the burglary.
He was carrying a threat from the IRA. He told me that if I didn't leave, I'd be shot. He said they were coming to the house that night to carry out their threat and shoot me.
At that stage, I wasn't sure if I had much longer left to live. I was still in tears when I got home.
I had gone too far. I'd crossed too many lines. I was forced to leave Tyrone.
This led to him moving to London, where he was still consumed by gambling.
In the frankly quite disturbing piece, McCarron also discusses the heartbreaking effect his addiction had on his relationship with his family, in particular his young daughter. The Irish News also features pieces about the time he was questioned for meeting a 15-year old girl through Tinder and the regular approaches the All-Star nominee still gets from gay men online.
