Is the debate on sports-related concussions coming to a head?

It happened 50 years ago, but the memory of former Gaelic footballer Pat O’Neill’s first concussion hasn’t faded.

He was then just another kid with dreams. He crashed into another player. Went off. Came back on. The usual. Smacking his head again, after an ill-timed bout of hi-jinks in the school swimming pool, didn’t help.

It wasn’t until he went to class and began work on maths that he vomited. Only then was he sent to the infirmary, where the only medical attention was 48 hours spent under the watchful eye of a Sister Camillus.