Kevin Penrose praises Ronan McNamee for helping him return to football after coming out

When Tyrone footballer Kevin Penrose came out as gay, one of the challenges and worries he faced was how he would be accepted in the GAA community.

After travelling to Asia after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022, Penrose came out to his parents over a video call.

Spending so long struggling with his sexuality, the Tyrone man was now able to live his life more freely, but did wonder how, and if he could return to the GAA.

While those around him were unaware, the culture in dressing rooms and on the pitch was not a pleasant experience.

"It's the time when you're finding yourself anyway, as a teenager, you're not really knowing what's going on.

"You're sort of, 'Okay. I need to stand out here to fit in, to be liked.' You just hear the words being thrown around the changing room or on the pitch, and it sort of makes you go back into yourself.

"Like, for me, I could be in the corner of the changing room thinking, 'Okay, I can't act this way, or talk about this, or I have to get involved in this banter, per se, to fit in.'"

One person who was crucial to his return was All-Ireland winner Ronan McNamee, who reached out to him to return to his club Aghyaran.

A close friend as well as a teammate, Penrose says McNamee's influence was "massive" to him returning.

"It's massive, you know. We've grown up together. We played under age together, went to the same schools, you know. We always were quite close in that way, you know.

"You know, Ronan is very straight to the point, just tell you how it is, which I think is what you need in that moment.

"But to have...like, it's your senior county player as well, to come and have those talks with you, it's encouraging. It sort of again, goes back to setting an example.

"If your ally and advocate