A GAA player who was seriously injured in a match in San Francisco in June has woken from a coma.
Mark McGovern (22), from the Belcoo O’Rahilly’s club in Fermanagh, suffered a serious head injury in an off-the-ball incident during while playing for Ulster GAA San Francisco.
The incident is being investigated by the San Francisco GAA and San Francisco police department.
Members of Mr McGovern’s family - including parents Danny and Josie; sisters Connie, Helen and Grace; and his uncle, Bernard - have been with him in San Francisco.
In a statement posted on Facebook and carried on the Belcoo O'Rahilly's website, Grace McGovern said her brother has regained consciousness and is fully aware of his surroundings and everyone around him. "Mark is yet to talk but has been trying to lip words in order to communicate with us, Mark has attempted a few steps with assistance," she wrote.
Police have called on witnesses to the incident to come forward. There were upwards of 50 people at the game, but a police spokesperson said only a small number of people had volunteered statements.
Two witnesses, an umpire and one of Mr McGovern’s team-mates, have told police they saw an opposing player stand over him as he lay on the ground and say: “You won’t get up from that”.
Police have identified the player, but no arrests have yet been made.
Mr McGovern, a student, had travelled to San Francisco to play football for the summer with two other Belcoo team-mates, Emmet Scollan and Ciarán Flaherty, who also played in Saturday’s game. He had arrived just a week before the incident.