'He told me to have no regrets': Jack Carty says late cousin Brian is his inspiration

Athlone rugby star Jack Carty has paid a moving tribute to his late cousin Brian, whom he described as the biggest influence on his career and a motivation behind his improvement as a player in recent years.

Brian Carty, of Bonavalley, Athlone, passed away in March of 2018 following a brave battle with cancer.

Speaking on a newly-released video to promote the Tackle Your Feelings mental health initiative, Jack (pictured above) singled out his cousin as the main influence on his career of late.

"I suppose my career was pretty inconsistent, a lot of ups and downs, and eight or nine months before I got capped (for Ireland) he unfortunately passed away," said the 28-year-old Connacht and Ireland fly-half.

"We were flying to South Africa to play the Cheetahs. Brian was quite sick at this time and I remember he walked me to the door and it was kind of like his way of nearly saying goodbye.

"One of the things he said before that to me was not to have any regrets. He knew that I had more in me, so after he passed that was definitely something that I took with me.

"If it wasn't for the words he gave me I probably wouldn't have gotten rid of that inconsistency that I would have had for years," he said.

The Barrymore man was speaking to his friend, Ulster and Ireland player John Cooney.

John said he had seen a "new perspective" in the Athlone man who started to play with more freedom and express himself better on the pitch in the last couple of years.

Both Jack and John were appearing in the video as ambassadors for Tackle Your Feelings, a mental health and wellbeing campaign run by Rugby Players Ireland and funded by the Z Zurich Foundation.

You can watch the Jack Carty and John Cooney video in full here:

The mental health initiative encourages people to ‘Take Control’ of their wellbeing using principles from both sport and positive psychology.

The TYF app, which is available on Android and Apple, encourages people to be pro-active about their mental wellbeing, with research revealing that less than half the people on the island of Ireland don't actively manage their mental wellbeing as part of their daily routine.

For more information on the Tackle Your Feelings campaign visit its website here.