Offaly football captain Niall McNamee has posted a second blog on his battle with gambling.

Titled 'Gambling, with a drop of alcohol', the Rhode clubman reveals how he has given up drinking alcohol for a second time and recalls how he had become so depressed about his gambling addiction that he contemplated crashing his car into a roundabout.

"The thought of crashing my car into a roundabout outside Rathangan where I worked entered my head on more than one occasion," writes McNamee. "I would speed through the town hoping my brakes would fail or that something would happen to just take the pain away. I would swear to myself that that was it, that I would never gamble again, but as soon as I got money again I was off to try and win it all back.

"When I came into recovery, it was suggested to me to give up alcohol for a year. The reason it was suggested is that most bookies are next door to a pub and if I was to get drunk and forget myself I could easily go in and place a bet and be back to square one.

"There was also the fear that I might replace one addiction with another. There was a chance I would stop gambling but then turn to alcohol if life got tough, instead of dealing with and talking about whatever problem might have arisen. If I'm honest I didn't want to give it up because I enjoy going out with my friends after games, but I knew I had to change things, so I wasn't going to argue."

You can read Niall's blog here Tweet

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