A MAN who had played inter-county football with Clare and represented Ireland in athletics was killed in a collision yesterday, just months after recovering from a serious crash in August 2009, which left him in hospital for several months.
Declan Hayes (43), Doonmore, Doonbeg in west Clare, who was single, was driving a motorcycle. He died at the scene of the crash which occurred at about 7.30am at Toonagh on the main Ennis to Tulla road. It is less than a mile from where he worked and about nine miles from Ennis.
Gardaí are examining the possibility that Mr Hayes’s motorcycle collided with a Nissan Micra car. The 24-year-old female driver of the car and her boyfriend were treated at the scene for shock but were otherwise uninjured.
Three units of the fire brigade, two ambulances and a rapid-response advanced paramedic unit from Ennis attended the scene.
Mr Hayes was pronounced dead soon after emergency crews arrived. His body was removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for a postmortem.
Garda Insp Tom Kennedy said there was quite a deal of traffic on the road at that time. “We would like to speak to anyone who travelled that stretch of road between Ennis and Tulla between the times of 7.25am and 7.45am and who might have observed the driving of either the car or motorcycle.”
Mr Hayes died less than a mile from where he worked on the construction of a new Clare County Board GAA training facility at Caherlohan near Tulla. Work at the site was suspended yesterday as a mark of respect.
He was an accomplished footballer who won four county championship medals with Doonbeg, while he also represented Clare at junior and senior level in the early 1990s. He was also a talented athlete and had represented Ireland a number of times.
Mr Hayes played rugby with a Webb Cup-winning Kilrush RFC side, he played hurling with Kilkee/Bealaha and soccer with Doughmore Rovers.
A member of the Doonbeg Drama Group, he was described by one friend as a “great actor and brilliant singer”.
Former Doonbeg football coach Tommy Tubridy said: “Declan was a great character on and off the pitch. He was a great footballer and dedicated to the game. He went back to play football even after his accident last year. The whole community is devastated by this news.”