Sean Cavanagh has spoken about the "scary" side-effects which he felt following a recent concussion during a game for his club, Moy.
Speaking on Today With Sean O'Rourke, the three-time All-Ireland winner said that he suffered a big hit during a game against Edendork.
"I was player-manager and I decided to try and beat the system again, but this time I more or less lost the ability to walk and was carried to the sideline.
"Even still, in that state I wanted to play on. I refused to be stretchered off. I refused to be taken immediately to hospital.
"Now, within 10 or 15 minutes it became apparent that I urgently required to go to hospital and that really was symptomatic of the dangers of concussion. I was brought for CT scans and it could have been really bad for me. That's the harm I was willing to put my body through in GAA."
Throughout the 35-year-old's career, he became adept at gaming the concussion tests. An accountant by profession, he was easily able to beat any mathematical tests.
If tests had been balance-based, Cavanagh felt he often would have failed and the concussion would have been recognised.
I fear for the long-ranging effects it might have on me because after that most recent incident, it was three or four weeks before I was feeling right again. I was suffering from nausea in the evenings. That's quite scary.
I feel fine now. I have to admit - I hold my hands up - I was really reckless throughout the whole course of my career in relation to concussion.
It would have been three or four a year. I would have become very good at getting back and playing quite quickly, more or less to my detriment.
That was the worst one, the more recent one I took.
I was sitting in work a few weeks later. I was feeling nausea. I was still feeling sick. My balance wasn't right. My sleeping wasn't right.
That really hit home to me the dangers of concussion.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
