Luke Loughlin doesn't remember much of the day or the game where he collapsed while hurling for Clonkill against Castletown-Geoghegan.
The Westmeath footballer shipped a heavy blow, eventually requiring stitches to his jaw and chin as well as a bar across his teeth but the most worrying part of it all was the concussion that caused him to collapse.
Loughlin (29) has since made a full recovery scoring a stunning one-handed goal on his return last weekend but as he tells Balls, the aftermath of the incident was scary.
"I can remember bringing the dog for a walk that morning but nothing else.
"People were like to me, 'you got a good goal in the first half,' but I couldn't recall it.
"I could hardly get out of bed on the Monday.
"I was off work, exhausted all week, feeling dizzy, all the usual symptoms. It was scary."
Loughlin was soloing through with a ball when he was knocked to the ground by a hit.
The initial concern surrounded the pain coming from his jaw as well as chipped teeth and a burst lip.
"I went into the dressing room straight away to try and stop the bleeding.
"My younger brother Josh was with me and we got that sorted. He said he asked me a few questions, but I didn't really respond to him.
"At the same time, one of our young lads Brian Gaffney had to be stretchered off with a serious ankle injury. They were carrying him off at the time and only for that, I probably wouldn't have been let back on," he says.
"We're not blessed with numbers in Clonkill so it just happened that I went back on. I took two steps onto the pitch... collapsed."
An ambulance was called and Loughlin praises the quick turn-around from the emergency services, transferring him swiftly to the regional hospital in Mullingar.
With chronic fatigue, he's since taken two weeks off work and down the line faces getting one if not two teeth out with a bar straightening them up as things stand.
"They rang an ambulance. Thankfully it came along very quickly. I was in and out of consciousness for fifteen minutes."
"As it turned out, it was a delayed concussion.
"They were saying to me in the hospital that I was lucky it happened in the game.
"If it happened when you were at home or in bed, it might have been a different story because nobody would be there to care for you straight away. I could feel there were chips gone from my teeth in hospital. I could feel them moving. That was torture."
But Loughlin's symptoms improved the following week, passing a return-to-play protocol on the Thursday before scoring a stunning goal on Sunday, coincidentally, his birthday.
He said it took a while to settle into his comeback game before eventually making the difference as they defeated reigning champs Raharney.
This brilliant goal from Luke Loughlin helped Clonkill edge past Raharney by 2 points, 4-16 to 1-23, in a thrilling Slevins Coaches Senior A Hurling Championship Round 3 encounter at TEG Cusack Park this afternoon.#westmeathgaa#whclubchamp2024 pic.twitter.com/uzkI50vwb0
— Westmeath GAA (@westmeath_gaa) August 18, 2024
"I came on after 25 minutes. I thought they were going to take me off I made that many mistakes in the first five minutes but then the second half came.
"I don't really know how that happened (for the goal.) If you tried it a million times, you couldn't do it, just connected lovely with it."
"Look it's tough," he reflects on the last fortnight.
"You're off work, down a few weeks wages. Going to the dentist and all, that's grim stuff. But the only thing is, it could be worse, these things happen.
"I'm 29, it's my first real bad belt in a game, I'm over the worst of it now. I'm back to work next week.
"It reeled me in a small bit, I thought I was going well at the time in the hurling and football.
"But I'm lucky my clubs are as good as they are and the people around me were great, sending nice messages and getting me right. We'll survive."
