Neil McManus backs GAA's defibrillator drive after father's scare

Six years ago, he cut short a game of golf having complained of feeling unwell. At home at the time, McManus rang for an ambulance and the first responder was a neighbour.

Antrim hurler Neil McManus and his father Hugh at Cushendall GAA Club in Antrim. Neil is an ambassador for the GAA Community Heart Programme which seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of defibrillators to clubs and make it possible to fundraise to acquire them. Neil's work is inspired by his family experience five years ago. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Leading Antrim hurler Neil McManus has pleaded for clubs to get behind the GAA’s new defibrillator programme after one saved the life of his father Hugh.

Hugh, 65, is one of 42 people in Ireland who have been successfully resuscitated by an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) located on GAA grounds.