Kilkenny hurling legend DJ Carey has told how he chased down a thief who stole his car after he left the keys in the ignition at a petrol station.
Mr Carey stopped off at Crookstown service station on the Ballitore by-pass in Co Kildare on his way back from Dublin for training with the All-Ireland final side.
However, after he filled his powerful three-litre diesel BMW, he went into the shop to pay leaving the keys in the ignition.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Pat Kennyprogramme this morning, Mr Carey said he came out and realised the car was not where he parked it. "The next minute I looked left and the car was speeding off up the road".
The hurling star was helped by another customer at the service station, who gave him a lift and pursued the speeding BMW as it headed towards Straffan and Barberstown. Mr Carey contacted the gardaí, who also gave chase.
"We followed him and caught up with the car without making too much noise and the police car then caught up with us. But I think that spooked him and he really put the boot down. Obviously a three-litre diesel car can move so he was driving fierce erratically up the motorway and on inside lanes, outside lanes, grass margins, zig-zagging, the whole lot," Mr Carey said.
A number of Garda cars and the Garda helicopter also became involved, but the driver and the stolen BMW "went to ground", Mr Carey said.
He was collected in Dublin by his sister and the pair again searched for the stolen car in the Kildare area, finally finding it and the alleged thief in Celbridge.
Mr Carey approached a man getting into the BMW in a pub car park and gave chase after the man ran from him. He said he let the man go, but that gardaí were now following "a definite line of inquiry".
The Kilkenny hurler suffered theft of a mobile phone, golf clubs and a significant amount of cash when he left another car parked outside a Dublin hotel during a celebrity golf classic event last year.