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Dublin GAA hero Jason Sherlock has revealed the guilt he felt over snubbing his father and his heritage overshadowed his sporting career.

The footballer, who won an All-Ireland medal in 1995 at the age of 19, admits he turned his back on his roots because he couldn’t handle the racial abuse.

In RTE documentary Jayo, the player, who became the poster boy of Hill 16, speaks candidly about being born to an Irish mother and a Chinese father.

He grew up in a loving household in Finglas, North Dublin, with his mum, grandmother and uncles, while his father’s family ran a Chinese restaurant in the city centre.

Sherlock said: “To a lot of people I was an overnight sensation… but the reality of the sports person is not many people get the fairy tale ending. ’95 was never really a positive time throughout my playing career, it wasn’t something I wanted to reminisce back on.

“At this stage in my life I just want to be a better person and I think that’s going to start with addressing some of my past.

(Image: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

“I look back at my relationship with my father and I feel a lot of shame, I feel a lot of guilt.”

Sherlock recalled how shortly after winning his All-Ireland medal he received a call from his uncle Martin to reveal his father had been murdered.

He added: “My father moved away from Ireland, he moved to South Africa when I was about six or seven.

“I wouldn’t have had a whole lot of contact with him. Martin, he rang and what I remember of the conversation was, ‘Your dad, he was murdered, he was murdered’.

“It’s something I just want to confront because it’s been an anchor around my leg all my life.”

The documentary, from the makers of Micko and Giles, reveals how at one point Sherlock considered a move to Anfield to play for Liverpool.

He was a promising basketball player and amateur hurler. He also played professional soccer and signed for Shamrock Rovers in 1998.

But the sporting great, who is now part of Dublin manager Jim Gavin’s backroom staff, stuck with GAA and his beloved team through a difficult period.

He told RTE Radio: “To be able to go back to that time [summer of 1995] and look at it in a positive light was a great thing to do. I hope it evokes positive memories for people when they watch it.

“Part of it gave me the opportunity to confront things in my childhood that I’ve never addressed.

“There was a lot of curiosity when I was growing up. Because I got so much slagging about being Chinese I shunned that side of my heritage.

“My mother struggled to get me to visit my father and his family because I felt they were the reason I was getting slagged.

“I never addressed that in my autobiography. This documentary was something I wanted to do in a public manner, to accept my heritage and kind of try to come to terms with that side of my family.”

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