Cork hurling fans on their way home from match"feared for their lives" as the coach driver allegedly nodded off behind the wheel.
A coachload of Cork hurling fans were on the way home from their semi-final match with Galway in Croke Park on Saturday evening when their driver pulled over after driving erratically. Reports have suggested that the Citylink driver allegedly was nodding off behind the wheel.
The coach company, Citylink tol CorkBeo that they are investigating the incident.
According to CorkBeo, Gardaí responded to the scene after receiving a number of phone calls reporting the driver and expressing that they were terrified. It reporedly went on for three hours after they left Dublin.
The Cork news outlet spoke to a passenger on the coach, who they refer to as Laura.
Laura, her mother and sisters were among those in the packed coach. She said: "It was a 70-seater, and there were only two seats free. Traffic in Dublin was bumper-to-bumper, but something seemed wrong as soon as we got onto the open road at Portlaoise."
She said that it was when they reached closer to Cork City that the driver was allegedly seen to nod off at the wheel. "We were in the middle of the coach, and I was just looking out the window - when I saw the bus veering towards the exit towards Glanmire. But we were too close - we were going to hit the barrier. The passengers at the front of the bus erupted then, shouting, 'He's fallen asleep,'" she said.
CorkBeo's source confirmed that the driver brought the coach to a standstill and assured passengers that he did not nod off. When they started driving again, he put on sunglasses however passengers started shouting "take off your sunglasses." As the driver took them off she said "I could see that his eyes were bloodshot. It was only three or four minutes - maybe two kilometres - before his head touched the wheel and passengers erupted again."
When the coach pulled over again, passengers "ran off the bus."
A Garda spokesperson told the Cork news outlet that "Gardaí received report of an incident of dangerous driving in the Glanmire area on Saturday 4th July 2026. Enquiries are ongoing."
