One of Limerick's foremost hurling stars was killed when he fell 14 feet from a wall at a building site where he was working, an inquest in Cork heard yesterday.
Mr Tommy Quaid (41), although retired from inter-county hurling, was active in the training of young players at the time of his death last October and still involved in the sport he pursued for over 20 years.
An inquest, conducted by Cork city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane, was told Mr Quaid was standing on the wall at Charleville Credit Union on October 6th last year.
The building was undergoing extensive renovations and Mr Quaid, who ran a light engineering business, was one of the contractors working on the site.
Mr Patrick Quaid, his brother, told the inquest they were doing steelwork. "We were taking down a girder. Tommy cut the bolt with a gas torch, the girder shook and knocked him off balance and he fell off the wall.
"He tried to grab a ladder that was leaning against the wall to save himself but he couldn't get a grip and he fell to the ground."
Mr Kevin O'Shea, another worker, said Mr Quaid landed on a heap of rubble and his head knocked against the wall twice. He was transferred from Mallow Hospital to Cork University Hospital, where he died of his injuries on October 10th. Medical evidence showed he died as a result of multiple severe head injuries.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
In his sporting career Tommy Quaid won two Munster Championship hurling medals and two National league titles.