NINE players suffered hypothermia and one was hospitalised with frostbite after Storm Jorge battered Galway United’s game at Shamrock Rovers II.
Temperatures in Dublin plummeted to just two degrees while winds reached 23mph for the League of Ireland First Division match Tallaght Stadium in South West Dublin.
Storm Jorge saw nine players suffer from hypothermia and one hospitalised with frostbite in Ireland
Galway defender Killian Brouder was taken off at half-time after his core body temperature dropped severely and he was ‘as blue as anyone I have ever seen in my life’, according to his team doctor.
And Shamrock’s Cole Omorehiomwan was taken to hospital having shown signs of frostbite.
Galway players were also said to have vomited on the team bus home.
Their team doctor Alan Byrne told the Irish Daily Star: “We had to take Killian off at half-time – I had to rip his jersey off and literally bear-hug him to get some warmth back into him.
“He was as blue as anyone I have ever seen in my life. He was puking in the dressing room. It was horrendous.
“Dean O’Halloran had to come off with ten minutes remaining, leaving us with 10 men on the pitch – he literally could not see.
“There’s a room under the stand in Tallaght with a load of heating pipes, and around 20 players were stood around there afterwards trying to get a bit of warmth.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It was scary. It was lucky we were in Tallaght, a modern stadium with good facilities.
“In another ground, trying to warm warm players up, we could have been in real trouble.”
Despite two United players missing training on Monday as a precaution, both clubs have confirmed all their players have recovered.
After the game, Shamrock sporting director Steven McPhail said: “The players are all okay thankfully now.
“It was unbelievable really and I never thought at the time it was that bad or had seen that before.
“I knew conditions were really poor but I never realised how they were struggling until seeing them after.”
The 3pm kick-off finished 1-1 after a late Conor Barry goal cancelled out Brandon Kavanagh’s 69th-minute opener for Shamrock.
Referee Kevin O’Sullivan, who deemed the game should finish, said he could not comment until the FAI had received his report.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
