Parents watched teenage hurler die during game
A mother and father looked on in horror as their teenage son, a talented Cork hurler with a history of heart problems, collapsed and died while playing for his local club, it emerged today.
Liam O’Regan a goalkeeper with Ballinora GAA Club dropped dead last night 10 minutes into the second half of a game against rivals Kilmichael.
The 17-year-old had just cleared the ball from the goalmouth when he fell down and despite the immediate efforts of two doctors on the pitch he could not be revived.
His parents were at the sideline and his brother was playing in the same team.
John Brosnan, chairman of Ballinora GAA Club, refused to speculate on what may have caused the sudden death but said the young lad had suffered heart problems in the past.
“It’s early days yet. It would look as if it’s something in that area but I could not comment with any knowledge obviously on the exact situation here. He did have a history of heart problems,” he said.
Liam collapsed after playing the ball out of the goal. There were two doctors present, CPR was administered immediately and an ambulance was on the scene within 15 minutes but they could do nothing for him.
“Every effort was made in that extent,” Mr Brosnan said.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at Cork University Hospital.
The world of Gaelic Games has been rocked by a number of tragic deaths on sports fields in the last few years many of which have been blamed on Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. SADS is caused by a variety of heart conditions that may result in unexpected cardiac arrests, often in teenagers.
Mr Brosnan said the county had lost a talented, passionate and eager member.
“He was very passionate about games, hurling and football. He won a county medal at under-14, county championship,” he said.
“Hurling was the great passion of his life. Both his parents are from Kilkenny and he was very taken with Kilkenny hurling ... constantly wore a Kilkenny jersey.”
Mr Brosnan went on: “He was a very popular boy with his peers, and very respected and he was a boy of strong individual ideas.
“He was what you would call a model child, a model boy and it was particularly poignant to think that he had to leave life just as he was about to enter a new phase of his life just having finished his Leaving Cert.
“He was a very clever student, a very dedicated student.”
Liam’s father Michael is chairman of under eight section of the Ballinora club and was also a selector and his brother Daragh played on the same team.
It was his first game back after the league was stopped to allow players to study for their Leaving Certificate.
He was playing for Ballinora against rivals Kilmichael in a local game in the Mid-Cork division and nearly all the boys on the pitch would have known Liam well. Many of them would have been to the local primary school with him.
The small, tightly-knit community around Waterfall and Ballinora was said to be devastated by the sudden death.
“It is hard to describe today how devastated ... a great sense of sadness around the parish and the area,” he said.
“There is of course a great outpouring of sympathy for the boy himself but our thoughts at this stage our very much with his two brothers and sister and particularly his parents for whom it is a devastating occurrence.”
Mr Brosnan said the club would be very much involved in the funeral arrangements.
“All our endeavours and thoughts and actions and activities now are in that area and in comforting and supporting the family,” he said.
A post mortem exam will be carried out there later today by assistant state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster and the local coroner has been informed.
