San Francisco police investigate GAA incident

San Francisco police are said to be investing the incident last Saturday which left Fermanagh Gaelic footballer Mark McGovern in a coma.

Playing in his first game for the Ulster San Francisco club during a three-month stay in America, McGovern suffered a head injury in an off-the-ball challenge from a Celts player.

The 22-year-old received medical treatment on the pitch and was then rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. He was put into a medically-induced coma, from which he has yet to emerge.

Friends, including his Belcoo O'Rahilly's club-mates Emmet Scollan and Ciaran Flaherty who travelled over with him, have been at his bedside.

McGovern's parents Josie and Danny, his three sisters Connie, Helen and Grace, uncle Bernard, girlfriend Jessica and her mother Lorna have also flown over to the California city.

Speaking to the BBC, Ulster San Franciso manager Joe Duffy said: "As the ball left the goalmouth area, the umpires drew to our attention that Mark was on the ground.

"Mark was unconcious and it was obvious it was a serious injury. We have identified the Celts player who was involved in the incident, contacted the San Franciso Police Department and filed a report..

"That investigation is ongoing and I believe the police are going to interview players from both teams along with the umpires and match officials."

Duffy was also contacted by local publication SF Weekly. He told them that he heard one of his players tell the police he allegedly witnessed a Celts player standing over a prone McGovern and saying "you won't get up from that."

Duffy, who said it was not a bad-tempered game, describes running onto the pitch 10 minutes into the second half as he attended to the prone player.

"I didn't even know who it was. Mark was unconscious. And he went from being in the foetal position to on his back and then he had seizures," he explained.

"At that time, we didn't know what happened. We were obviously more concerned with getting Mark some medical attention."

According to the San Francisco GAA website, the Celts club is "mostly made up of American-born players." They are said to be "keen to get more American-born people into our games."