AN “EXCEPTIONALLY talented” GAA player remained in a critical but stable condition in hospital in San Francisco yesterday having sustained a head injury during a match over the weekend.
Mark McGovern (22) from Belcoo, Co Fermanagh, remained in a coma last night in the intensive care unit of San Francisco general hospital having received a head injury in an off-the-ball incident in a GAA match on Saturday.
The incident is being investigated by the San Francisco GAA and San Francisco police department.
Two witnesses, an umpire and one of Mr McGovern’s team-mates, have told police that they saw an opposing player stand over him as he lay on the ground.
Police are carrying out a full investigation and called on witnesses to come forward. There were upwards of 50 people at the game but a police spokesperson said only a small number of people had volunteered statements.
Ulster San Francisco club chairman Joe Duffy described the match as a “good, competitive game of football but there was no sign anything like that was going to happen. There was no malice in the game so it was completely out of the blue”.
“But when I got to him I realised he wasn’t getting up. He was having spasms and he was not conscious so we phoned 911 immediately.”
Members of Mr McGovern’s family, including his parents Danny and Josie and his sisters Connie, Helen and Grace and his uncle Bernard are with him in San Francisco.
Belcoo O’Rahillys club members Emmet Scollan and Ciarán Flaherty have been keeping a bedside vigil with Mr McGovern since the incident. Mr Scollan said that the situation was “worse than a bad nightmare” but added that he was very grateful for the many messages posted online and the help and support he had received from home.
Mr McGoverns home club Belcoo O’Rahillys issued a statement saying the club and the whole community were “very saddened and concerned”, and paid tribute to the young man as an “exceptionally talented footballer”.