Family praying for Limerick sports star Fanning after car crash

The family of a rising sports star are praying he will make a full recovery after sustaining serious injuries in a car crash last night.

Daragh Fanning was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick immediately following the crash and placed in an induced coma.

The crash occurred near Cappamore, Co Limerick, at around 1am this morning, when the car being driven by Daragh, 18, lost control and smashed into a wall.

Not other car was involved, Gardaí said.

Daragh, a star player with Bruff RFC, has also played representative rugby for Munster, and was a member of the Limerick minor hurling panel who reached the All-Ireland hurling final last year.

"We were really concerned about brain damage but today he seems to be improving a lot," said a family spokesperson.

"He's responding to the stimulus the doctors are giving him as they try to bring him out of the coma.

"The doctors are less worried about damage to the brain, so we are very relieved. We hope he will be ok, but we don't know everything yet."

Daragh, from Pallasgreen, is to undergo surgery on his face tomorrow after both his jaws were broken in the head-on collision with the wall.

"He has severe damage to his jaws," the spokesperson said.

"They (doctors) are going to operate on him in the morning.

"As I said, we were all very worried about damage to his brain, but in the case of his jaws -- broken bones can be fixed. We are hoping he will make a good recovery.

"His parents were shocked of course."

Daragh's twin brother Brian is another rising rugby star, featuring for the Irish U-20 team having impressed coaches for the international side in his games with Bruff RFC.

"They both just turned 19 and they are both super athletes. They're first cousins of John Hayes, so yeah you could say sport is in their blood," said representative of the Bruff rugby club.

The family have experienced traumatic episodes over the past few years.

Daragh and Brian contracted meningitis when they were six years old, but both made full recoveries.

Their sister Aoife, 20, was born weighing just 760 grams and given low odds of survival.

After suffering several setbacks, she eventually pulled through following heart surgery performed by the late Dr Maurice Nelligan and later suffering jaundice and anaemia.

Aoife, who has participated in the Dublin Horse Show and who is a member of the Scarteen Hunt, nearly died in a fall from a pony when she was 13.

Despite wearing a helmet, she fractured her skull in the fall and swallowed her tongue.

If it were not for the fast thinking actions of former Irish and Munster rugby star Peter 'Claw' Clohessy, who removed her tongue from her throat, she would have died.

Sergeant Mick Divilly, Bruff Garda Station, appealed for witnesses to contact them on 061-382940.