THE MOTHER of former Kilkenny hurler and nine-time All Star DJ Carey said he was “comfortable” yesterday evening after he collapsed earlier in the day and was admitted to hospital.
Maura Carey said the family did not yet know the cause of his sudden illness: “He’s comfortable, that’s all that we know,” she said.
Mr Carey was in a waiting area in Kilkenny city Garda station yesterday morning, where the public wait to be seen by gardaí on routine business, when he collapsed.
He was admitted to to the coronary care unit of St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny City.
Mr Carey (41), from Gowran, about 15km outside Kilkenny city, played hurling for his county for 16 years between 1990 and his retirement in 2006.
In 1998, at the age of 27, he announced his retirement but returned to don the black and amber Kilkenny strip, having received 25,000 letters asking him to reconsider his decision.
In his career he participated in teams that won five All-Ireland titles, 10 Leinster titles, four National Hurling League titles and two Railway Cup titles with Leinster.
Off the pitch, Mr Carey set up his first cleaning company at the age of just 23. However, while his businesses thrived during the Celtic Tiger, they were later hit by the recession.
Mr Carey’s high-profile relationship with entrepreneur Sarah Newman was reported to have come to an end in recent weeks. The English-born businesswoman came to fame in Ireland as a panellist on the RTÉ series Dragons’ Den.
A luxury Swiss property owned by Ms Newman, which was at the centre of an AIB case against Ms Newman and Mr Carey, was sold in December.
AIB indicated that it was to move against the property last May after the bank was awarded judgment of €9 million against Ms Newman and Mr Carey, arising from loans and guarantees they had given for each other’s loans, primarily on properties in Mount Juliet in Kilkenny and the K Club in Co Kildare.