*Photograph: John Mangan
AN AMBULANCE was required at Cusack Park for the second week in a row, prompting calls for a stand-by presence to be in operation at the county grounds.
A St Breckan’s supporter began to feel unwell on Saturday evening while watching his side take on Ennistymon in the Clare SFC. He made contact with his family at this stage who phoned for an ambulance to assist.
It took thirty five minutes for the ambulance to reach Cusack Park. The Clare Echo understands that no first aid responder was on duty and instead the assistance of a medic with one of the competing teams was called on after the match.
The man suffered a stroke and was sitting on a concrete step leaning against the railing during this time. A chair was provided by County Board officials after the game as he waited for the ambulance.
Inagh/Kilnamona’s Jason McCarthy was waiting for up to an hour for an ambulance on the Sunday previous when he sustained a leg break in the Clare SHC quarter-final.
Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) has flagged the matter in the Seanad. “How does it take nearly an hour for an ambulance to come from Ennis to Ennis, not to mention living in Carrigaholt, back in Doonbeg or up in Mountshannon or up in Ballyvaughan”.
She told The Clare Echo of a lady in Lahinch who had to wait four hours for an ambulance after falling by a cliff and crawling to safety. “With the lack of ambulance cover to service our county, we’ve stopped ringing the ambulance when we need it”.
Clare GAA must up their game, Senator Garvey maintained. “The GAA have to value their players and supporters. Players are putting so much in now whether it is hurling, camogie, gaelic football or ladies football, it is the most professional amateur sport. How hard would it be to get the Civil Defence to put guys on a stretcher, surely they are qualified to do that. Do I have to sponsor a trolley so that players can be wheeled off the pitch? What is the cost of getting people qualified to remove injured players, we paid €15 into the game, it is not good enough to say people are not qualified”.
While voicing her admiration for the GAA and its value to communities, she added of the McCarthy incident, “it was a joke to see them coming with two boards. I was actually embarrassed, I had a friend from San Francisco who was watching the match with me and this was the impression we gave”.
