UCC rugby captain doing well in Cork hospital after cardiac incident

University College Cork (UCC) rugby captain, Sam O’Sullivan, is “responding well” after a cardiac incident during Saturday’s All-Ireland League (AIL) play-off.

Mr O’Sullivan, who is aged in his early 20s, collapsed during the 66th minute of the Energia AIL Division 1B promotion relegation play-off on Saturday against Shannon at the Mardyke in Cork city.

Prior to the arrival of emergency services, Mr O’Sullivan underwent CPR on the pitch, before being taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for further medical treatment.

Speaking to The Echo, president of UCC rugby, John Fitzgerald, said Mr O’Sullivan is recovering in the care of medical professionals.

“Sam, who is our captain, was playing his 85th AIL game yesterday, which is a record for our club,” said Mr Fitzgerald.

“During the game, he suffered a cardiac arrest, but he’s now up in CUH. He responded really well overnight and he’s alert, awake, talking, and eating.

“It was a distressing time for us here in the club, his family and his friends, but we were very fortunate.

“We have a lot of great doctors at the club, who were at the game, and they were the initial response before emergency services,” he added.

“It’s like running into a fire: They went in and took care of him expertly.

“I must also say that the response we got from the Shannon players and supporters was tremendous; they were as shocked as we were.” The highly anticipated match kicked off at 2.30pm, with the incident occurring at 3.45pm.

The score at the time was 31-12 in favour of UCC.

The IRFU’s All-Ireland League competitions committee is due to meet next week to decide whether the match will be replayed or if the result stands.