County board contradict manager Mickey Harte
Sean Cavanagh was back in the headlines over the weekend with reports suggesting he played on while suffering the effects of a knock to the head during Saturday’s Allianz League loss to Monaghan.
The full-forward was injured and received several minutes of attention on the field before playing on. However, many people commented that he didn’t look quite in full health after the incident in the opening 15 minutes:
Tyrone 0-4 v Monaghan 0-2 Tyrone number 14 Sean Cavanagh back on his feet but looking groggy-plays on! 16 mins #AllianzNFL #PhillysUpdates
— PhillyMc (@MoysPhillyMc) January 31, 2015
Speaking afterwards Tyrone manager Mickey Harte told the Irish Examiner that Cavanagh had played on despite suffering concussion:
‘For a while there we didn’t know if he would have to come off or not because he had a slight, mild concussion with a bang above the eye. It took the sting out of us because he was going very strong up there. So it did upset us but, look, different excuses and all the rest.
The comments caused controversy as GAA guidelines indicate that any player suffering from the symptoms of concussion should be removed from the pitch immediately. The incident also came in the wake of recent comments from Aidan O’Shea who said that he has been regularly concussed during his playing career.
However the Tyrone county board have now described the comments by Harte as ‘used loosely from a non-medical perspective’. They issued a statement last night refuting any claims that the Moy clubman played on with a head injury after the knock to his head.
The statement says that he was assessed on the pitch and was adjudged ‘NOT to be concussed and was allowed to remain on the field.’
The former All-Ireland winner was then assessed again at half time and ‘passed full SCAT3 evaluation.’
The statement then goes on to rebuke the terms concussion used in the post-match interview by Harte when describing Cavanagh as having played with concussion
‘The Medical Team were satisfied throughout that Sean did not have concussion. In post-match interviews the term ‘concussion’ was used loosely from a non-medical perspective which appears to have lead to some erroneous conclusions. We trust this statement clarifies the matter.’
H/T to Gaelic Life
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