Reports of Joe Rabbitte's medical condition following the head injury he received in last Sunday's Connacht senior hurling final are disheartening. John McIntyre, a journalist and the manager of the Offaly hurling team, visited the Galway player in hospital yesterday. Speaking on Radio Ireland's Last Word programme, McIntyre said: "The bad news is that he (Rabbitte) has a fractured scull. He has only 30 per cent hearing in his right ear and he has a loss of balance as well.

"The full extent of his injury has yet to be ascertained. Joe is a happy-go-lucky individual, but when a specialist told him yesterday in Galway that he was a lucky man to be alive I think it brought it home to him how lucky he was."

Rabbitte was struck with a hurley behind the ear in the game and was unconscious for a considerable period before being taken by ambulance to Roscommon County Hospital. The player was admitted to University College Hospital, Galway on Monday after feeling unwell that morning.