Keith Kelly

EIGHT years ago, following a horrific car accident which left him in a coma for two weeks and saw him suffer 11 broken bones and a fractured skull as well as severing a nerve connecting his brain to his shoulder, Jason Moran was told to forget about playing soccer ever again.

Today, the Newcastle native will win his 10th cap for the senior Irish men’s Paralympic side in the European Championships in Scotland where he will hope to continue his stunning goals-per-game ratio – he has scored nine times in the nine games he has played for his country since joining the squad in March of this year.

It is an amazing story, one of the triumph of mind over body, and is likely to see the 26-years-old representing his country at the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, qualification for which has almost been assured by the Irish team by virtue of their performances in Glasgow this week.

On the evening of Tuesday May 7, 2002, Jason and his twin brother Barry were travelling in a car on the Rahoon Road, just past Rahoon Cemetery, when the car hit a pothole, spun into a ditch and smashed into a tree before bouncing back onto the road.

Barry escaped relatively unscathed, suffering nothing more serious than a few burst blood vessels, but it was a different story for Jason. He was in the right hand side of the car, which bore the brunt of the impact, and he suffered extensive injuries.

“I shattered my femur, had a compound fracture of my ulna, fractured my skull, broke nine ribs and severed the brachial plexus nerve in my shoulder, which means my brain can’t send messages to my shoulder anymore.

“I was in a coma for two weeks, and went from hospital in Galway up to Beaumont Hospital. I got wonderful care and support from medical staff, and from my family and friends; they really helped me through that time,” Jason told Tribune Sport from Glasgow yesterday.

He went to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, where he was given the news that his promising career in soccer was over, but Jason refused to accept that news and vowed to work as hard as possible to get back on the playing pitch.

Jason was only 18 at the time of the accident, but had already made a significant impression on the soccer world. He captained St Mary’s College to success in the FAI Schools’ Senior Cup the previous year – twin brother Barry scored a staggering four hat-tricks in that march to glory, including one in the final itself – and was coming to the end of his first season with Sligo Rovers in the League of Ireland First Division, having played with Galway United in the Premier Division the previous season.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.