Clare boss calls for independent doctor to rule on suspected concussions

Davy Fitzgerald called on the GAA to use an independent doctor to rule on suspected concussion cases during matches yesterday.

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness revealed that four of his players have been concussed in the space of three matches this summer and Fitzgerald has also had first-hand experience of what a head trauma injury can do.

The Clare manager saw the Banner’s John Conlon ship a heavy tackle during their Munster hurling semi-final game against Cork last month which belatedly forced him off the field to be brought to hospital.

“There should be an independent doctor that would make a ruling that if a player is not right he has to go off until he is right, so that it wouldn’t be the Clare doctor or the Cork doctor,” said Fitzgerald in Dublin yesterday.

“The team doctor could call over an independent doctor to verify it so that some medical person would take responsibility and hold [the player] there until the time is right.

“Naturally, in a team situation you are going to try and get the player back on the field as quickly as possible but the safety of the player should be paramount. You see it in boxing, the doctor is there and he calls it and that might not be a bad thing to have.”

Fitzgerald voiced his displeasure about the Conlon incident and how it was handled in the wake of that game but cut himself short lest he be accused of using it to mask a defeat and later communicated his concerns to officials in Croke Park.

“The GAA get an awful lot right but concussion is a serious thing and I have only learned a bit more about that since. It took John Conlon a while and it is something we are still monitoring, to tell you the truth.”

Fitzgerald also revealed the level of concern around Tony Kelly who suffered a bad eye injury during the U21 Munster semi-final and which left him doubtful for the All-Ireland senior quarter-final against Galway.

The Ballyea player was only passed fit two days before the game. He lost his sight in one eye for a spell after being struck by a sliotar in the U21 contest and was left out of contact drills for most of the week prior to the Galway game. “When you have something that dangerous – especially anything to do with the head — my number one priority… and I said it to Tony, ‘Tony, we will look after you’. You have the rest of the person’s life to think of here outside of hurling.”

Like Fitzgerald, McGuinness has warned about the threat of head injuries and went as far as to state that a serious spinal or neck injury could be the result if what he said was overly-cynical play wasn’t dealt with in the game of football.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with physicality,” said the former Clare goalkeeper. “It is part of our game but it should not be around the head area. It could happen and I know that the last day Darach [Honan] ran into John Conlon again.

“Darach is six-foot-something and it just happened that John had been down and he got it in the head again, so it can happen.”