Seamus Elliott remains in induced coma but ‘condition improves’

Ulster road racer Seamus Elliott remains in an induced coma in intensive care at Cork University Hospital following a crash during the Faugheen 50 road races in Co Tipperary on Sunday.

The 30-year-old from Ballymoney sustained head injuries and multiple fractures in the accident, which occurred shortly after the start of the Open Superbike race.

However, Elliott’s condition has improved and his father Danny told the News Letter on Monday he was hopeful Seamus would be brought out of his induced coma on Tuesday evening.

“He has several fractures in his back and they had to operate on his femur and his hip during the night, plus his knees. He had a few small operations throughout the night but the news is better today and they are happier with him,” said Mr Elliott.

“His lung is what they called ‘scraped’ and for that reason they plan to keep him in a coma for another 24 hours to try and let his lung heal, as they don’t want it to collapse when they attempt to bring him around.

“Seamus has been in an induced coma from when they treated him at the side of the road. He has a bleed on the brain on the right-hand side and they are keeping an eye on it, but they seem to be content that it will right itself.”

Mr Elliott revealed that doctors were also concerned about his son’s spine and says he faces a long rehabilitation process after sustaining a series of broken bones.

“They had been worried about his spine and they assessed him after lunchtime today to see if he was fit enough to go for some more X-rays. Thankfully, his spine is OK, but he has several fractures in his back,” he said.

“He has a lot of broken bones and it’s going to be a long rehabilitation for him, but they are much more pleased with him today compared to what they said when he arrived on Sunday. He’s fairly stable now so in terms of the news we had yesterday, we’re a lot happier with things now.”


Elliott claimed a major win last year at the Southern 100 on the Isle of Man in the 600cc Supersport class.

He impressed again at the same event earlier this month, finishing fourth in the Senior race and sixth in the headline Solo race.


A serious crash also occurred at Faugheen during practice on Saturday, involving Brian Coomey from Cork and Noel Carroll from Co Laois.

Coomey was also flown to Cork University Hospital and is being treated in intensive care. Carroll’s injuries are less serious.

Kyle White