Teammate saves life of friend who was choking on tongue

A SOCCER club is to introduce more first aid courses after one of its young players helped saved the life of a team-mate who was choking on his tongue.

Goalkeeper Jake O’Leary was playing for the Riverstown U17 team from Glanmire, Co Cork, last weekend when he received an accidental blow to the head while making a save.

According to witnesses Jake collapsed onto the ground and his eyes glazed over.

His jaw was locked, he’d swallowed his tongue and was struggling to breathe.

Jake’s father, John, said he heard the crunch of the impact from the sideline and rushed over.

“There were a few scary moments. I couldn’t get his jaw open and there was blood coming from the side of his mouth,” John said.

Fortunately, Jake’s lifelong friend, Colin O’Neill, acted very quickly.

Colin, a qualified lifeguard who has completed several first aid training courses, managed to prize open Jake’s jaw and John was able to get his tongue out of his throat.

Club chairman John Gilroy praised Colin O’Neill for his quick thinking and said the club would be making a special presentation to him to honour his heroics.

“We often have players who score spectacular goals and we refer to them as sporting heroes. Colin O’Neill is a real sporting hero for what he did,” Mr Gilroy said.

He added that several managers of the club’s underage teams had first aid training but the club would now make it mandatory for all of them.

“We’re also going to ensure that we offer a lot of our players first aid training in the future. We intend to do this for all the older players in the U14 to U17 age bracket,” Mr Gilroy added.