Ballina manager questions protection given to players after Padraig O'Hora's head injury

His team might have won the match and secured a place in next weekend's county senior semi-final, but Ballina Stephenites manager Niall Heffernan was not a happy man at the end of today's quarter-final clash with Castlebar Mitchels in James Stephens Park.

The home side won the game by a point, 0-8 to 0-7, but the manager who guided the team to last year's county title was quick to share his frustartion about the injury picked up by star defender Padraig O'Hora.

The inter-county star had to be helped from the pitch after 28 minutes after picking up a head injury and was later removed by ambulance to hospital.

“We're very concerned about Padraig's health. He's gone off there in an ambulance. Players need to be protected on the pitch and I feel Padraig didn't get as much protection as he should have got. He's definitely out for next week.

“I'm not going to say any more about it, but we told the players at half time that we owed it to Padraig to go out and win the game. We asked them to show up in the second half, stand up and do what Padraig does for us, and a lot of them did that.