A 16-year-old boy who was injured in a hurling match successfully sued a hurling club yesterday for allowing him to play without a helmet.
David Devereaux, from Parkwood Close, Parklands, Commons Road, Cork, who was awarded £1,600 damages, was 14 when he received a blow from a hurley to the nose while playing with Na Piarsaigh's under-16 B hurling team in a match against Bishopstown's under-16 A team on September 4th, 1997.
He told Cork Circuit Court how he had been promised a helmet by Na Piarsaigh after his own helmet did not fit.
A club official told him they would get a helmet for him at half-time. They did not, and 10 minutes into the second half he was injured and was taken to hospital.
He received stitches to his nostril and later had plastic surgery, but is now susceptible to nose blockages and upper nose infections.
The Na Piarsaigh u-16 B hurling team selector, Mr Neville McGrath, said the club encouraged young hurlers to wear helmets from an early age, but he had no powers under GAA rules to insist on this.
Cross-examined by Mr Tom Creed, Mr McGrath said David had not asked him for a helmet, and if he had he could not have given one because the club did not provide helmets for its players.