Limerick man who bravely saved teenager from the sea is honoured following dramatic rescue

A LIMERICK man whose bravery saved a young woman’s life, has been named the Limerick Person of the Month.

Captain Liam Halpin from Woodview Park in the city came to the rescue of a teenager who had gotten into difficulty in the waters off County Clare.

Only for the quick-thinking and fast action of Mr Halpin the outcome most certainly would have been very different.

“I am delighted to receive the person of the month award. I didn’t expect it,” Mr Halpin told the Leader after being phoned to inform him of the award which is sponsored by the Limerick Leader, media agency Southern and the Clayton hotel.

“We were both lucky to come out of it unscathed,” he continued of the rescue operation. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

The dramatic rescue effort unfolded when Mr Halpin and his family were enjoying a family walk on Doughmore Beach close to Trump International Hotel in Doonbeg on August Bank Holiday Monday.

“I noticed that there were two people in the water - a boy and a girl. They seemed to be struggling a bit. The boy managed to get himself out and when he came out he was still a bit panicked and he said that his sister was in trouble,” Mr Halpin explained.

The young woman started shouting for help. “They weren’t from the area. The boy was 13, I think, and the girl was 19. She was being taken out by the tide very very quickly,” said Mr Halpin.

“She was struggling. There was a lady beside us and she called 112 and my wife ran up to the hotel and raised the alarm with them to see if they could get the Coastguard or someone out.”

Mr Halpin started running back down the beach in search of a surfboard or bodyboard. “I came across a family who had a bodyboard.”

At this stage the young woman had been swept to a different location in the water.

“I am not a strong swimmer. Like if I had gone out in the water without the bodyboard I wouldn’t have been able to get back again,” said Mr Halpin who got into the water and started kicking to build momentum to reach the young woman.

“I had to go through the waves rather than over them as they were so high. Eventually, when I got to the point where I thought she was, she had been swept out further again and I couldn’t see her or see people on the shore at that stage either to direct me to where she was.”

The teenager started shouting so Mr Halpin saw her. “To be fair to her she was very, very strong - she could have been in the water 15 minutes at this stage, maybe more, and she still managed to keep herself up over the water which I would say was very hard. I’d say the water came in over her head I don’t know how many times. Eventually I got to her.

“I put the board out and said ‘hold onto it, don’t let go’ and then the two of us started kicking like mad into the shore.”

By the time they reached land, the helicopter, Coastguard and the National Ambulance Service had arrived on the scene.

The girl was checked out in the ambulance first and was then taken to University Hospital Limerick in the helicopter. She was able to walk to the ambulance.

A few days later the teenager from County Offaly made contact with Mr Halpin to thank him for his bravery.

“She was very thankful and sent a small gift - it was very nice,” he said.

Mr Halpin who is an army captain based in the DFTC headquarters, joined the army in 2004.

“For a long time - around 12 years - I was based in Cork and then in around 2017 I got moved to the Curragh to the military college and now I’m in the Defence Forces Training Centre in the Curragh,” he explained.

A native of Woodview Park in Limerick city, he now lives Naas.

The son of Mary and Danny Halpin, Mr Halpin is married to Nicole. He has one brother Brian, in Canada, and one sister Jean who recently returned from Saudi Arabia.