Omagh footballers help stuck ambulance after teammate suffers broken leg

Amateur footballers in County Tyrone were forced to pitch in to help an ambulance that got stuck in the mud on its way to help an injured player.

The ambulance was responding after a footballer broke his leg in three places in a game on Saturday in Omagh.

Omagh Hospitals player Mark O’Sullivan was badly hurt 40 minutes into the match against Glebe United.

The team’s manager Paul McCabe has urged the council to install a path or road so vehicles can get to the pitch.

The Fermanagh and Western League match was taking place off Retreat Close near the Tyrone County Hospital.

Mr McCabe said people get to the pitches after crossing about 100 yards of “marshland”.

‘Mark was in serious pain’

“People could end up having a life-threatening problem like a heart attack and an ambulance may not be able to reach them,” he said.

“He (Mark) was in serious pain. Even when we were waiting for the ambulance, we were saying that the ambulance was bound to get struck in the grass.

“We were on standby to help the ambulance if it got stuck again on its way out but there was no issue. It probably went over the same tracks as when it came in.”

He added: “We’ve been asking for a road, a path, some gravel even just to make sure you can get to the pitch.

“It’s not the maintenance men, they do what they can.

“But it’s not the last time somebody is going to get injured on a football pitch down there and the ambulance won’t be able to get to it.”

Mr McCabe said the player was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.