DECLAN BONNER says trained medics need to be present at all games, following an incident yesterday ‘that could have had unspeakable consequences.’
Bonner, the Donegal Under-21 manager, is a member of the St Michael’s management team, and says that he was ‘sick with worry’ after one of his player sustained a serious head injury.
During yesterday’s AllSportsStore.com All-County Football League game at Gaelic Park against Bundoran, St Michael’s midfielder Ciaran Kelly went to ground after accidently colliding with another player’s knee.
The game was delayed for 40 minutes with an ambulance arriving in 17 minutes to take the player to Sligo General Hospital.
Bundoran forward James Keaney, a paramedic, attended to Kelly, as did Dr Murphy and Levina McFadden, a nurse, who is the wife of St Michael’s player Colm McFadden, and Paul Coyle, the St Michael’s team physio.
[adrotate group=”68″]“The Bundoran club and the people who attended to Ciaran were excellent,” Bonner told Donegal Sport Hub.
“To have that medical attention going to Ciaran so quickly was vital yesterday.
“In all my years involved in football I’ve never been as scared on a sideline as I was yesterday. It was something that was totally innocuous, but it just showed how these things can happen.
“If those people hadn’t been on-site, it could have been a lot worse.
“Ciaran took a bad bang on the head, James was only about five metres from where it happened and he was straight out to him.”
[adrotate group=”38″]Bonner believes that there is a wider issue that needs explored here by the GAA at the top level.
He said: “We were lucky to have so many trained people available yesterday right away. But I wonder at how many games this weekend would that level of assistance have been readily there on the sideline.
“We had a doctor, a paramedic and a nurse immediately on. It brought home the importance of having that attention at games.
“I know teams are required to have trained first aid responders at games, but this was something that went beyond basic first aid. This was a matter of life.
[adrotate group=”37″]“It something that, thankfully, doesn’t occur too much, but it’s too serious to take risks and, really, I think the GAA should have a rule whereby one properly trained medical person is required at games.
“I never want to experience something like that again.”
Kelly underwent scans in Sligo General Hospital last night and is being kept in for observation.
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