The fast thinking and heroic actions of coach Darren Higginbotham prevented what could have been a disastrous outcome for members of the Fermanagh Super Cup Premier squad in Bundoran last Saturday.

The squad were putting the final touches to their Super Cup NI preparations with a beach session before the players entered the sea at Tullan Strand for a cool down.

However, a number of the boys got into trouble when they were caught in a rip current and it was at this point that Darren sprang into action.

The mother of captain Jake Irvine, who was involved in the incident, was quick to praise Darren for his actions.

“The first thing that Jake said was ‘Mummy, Darren was amazing’, those were the words that he used. Jake told me that he just couldn’t move and he panicked but Darren made him get to the rocks and Jake talked about how much Darren did for the boys and I personally couldn’t speak highly enough about him or for that matter [coaches] Nathan [Cashel] and Francie [Shaw] or the surfers who then came along and helped.

“Darren though was the one who was in the water and he was the last one out of the water. He put everybody else before himself and I think that’s something the boys will always remember. It could have been so different only for the coaches and the surfers and we are just so grateful that they are all back home and nobody was badly hurt,” she commented.

Speaking this week, Darren said: “Between playing and managing I would say that is about the 25th beach session that I have done. The key is having a bit of fun together and as with all beach sessions it all ends up with going into the water because the water acts like an ice-bath. We all ran into the water together but we didn’t go out far and it was the usual stuff, jumping waves and throwing a ball about, nothing out of the ordinary,” said Darren, the team manager.

Higginbotham had told a couple of his players who were cold to go on into the shore and it was at this point that he then spotted that some of the players had been taken out another ten yards.

“The boys weren’t that far out but they had been taken out about another ten yards so I made my way towards them and I noticed that a few of them were struggling to get back in. Then one of the boys said ‘I’ve no energy Higgy, I’m struggling’ and when he said that it sort of sprung a bit of panic into a couple of other boys.

“I tried to drag him along with me and he was trying to swim into the rip current and getting nowhere which we subsequently found out was the wrong thing to do, you should move parallel to the beach and come out of it that way.

“We were only about 15 yards from the rocks at this stage and a few of the boys were really starting to panic so I went into autopilot and tried to usher them all towards the rocks.

“The only thought in my mind was to get these boys up on to the rockface and to safety because you think to yourself how could you live with yourself if anything happens to these boys? The waves kept crashing around us and they were throwing me up against the rockface but thankfully I managed to get them up and two of the boys managed to get me up as well. Anybody would have done the same thing in that situation,” said Higginbotham.

A group of surfers then appeared on the scene and took everybody to the safety of the beach. “In my opinion the surfers were the real heroes on the day. They came and got the boys off the rock and on to the surfboards and to the beach. It was scary but that never really dawned on me until I got back up on to the beach. These sort of stories can have a tragic ending but thankfully this time everybody got away unscathed and there is a valuable lesson there about educating people about the dangers of the sea,” he said.

Coaches Francie Shaw and Nathan Cashel also played key roles in getting the remainder of the squad to safety.

“I would have to praise Nathan Cashel and Francie Shaw for remaining cool in a very stressful situation. Nathan helped usher the other boys in from the water and Francie called for help and kept everybody calm,” he added.

Both the in-shore lifeboat from Bundoran and the Sligo based Rescue 118 helicopter attended the scene and a total of nine boys and one coach were taken to Sligo University hospital to be checked out. Some had scrapes and bruising from being near the rocks, others had taken in salt water. However, all nine were released and allowed home that evening.

Chairman of the Fermanagh Super Cup Committee, Dessie Kerr also added: “It has been a traumatic weekend for all the players and coaches and we are relieved and pleased that they are all OK.

“We would like to place on record the committee’s admiration for our management team’s heroic efforts in helping to rescue the boys, and indeed putting the boys’ welfare ahead of their own wellbeing; only for the presence of mind and courage of Darren Higginbotham, Nathan Cashel and Francie Shaw, the incident could have resulted in much more serious consequences.

“We would also like to thank Surf instructor Owen Murphy, Sean and the other surfers who played a key part in the rescue, and would also thank all the various agencies including the RNLI, rescue staff on the Sligo 118 helicopter, the Gardai, members of the public and everyone else who pulled together to help.”

“We would also like to praise the boys themselves for remaining calm under pressure, and thank their parents and families for their patience and understanding.

The players and their parents should be assured that we will do all we can to help them at this time. We already knew that we had an excellent squad of young men, but Saturday’s incident confirmed that Fermanagh can be rightly proud of the players.”