The gang operate in and around streets near Dublin's Temple Bar

A grandmother who collapsed in Temple Bar after she was hit in the head by a large wooden rocking horse was reunited live on air with the passing Scottish man who came to her rescue.

Tracey Blackstone (52) was left unconscious on the street with a four-inch gash on her head after the full-size toy came crashing down from a second storey window the day before Ireland played Scotland, Friday June 12.

She was rescued by football fan Craig MacDougal (24) who wrapped his Scotland shirt around her head to stop the bleeding and waited with her until an ambulance arrived.

“It was pretty surreal, and pretty painful as well,” Ms Blackstone told RTE’s Ray D’Arcy Show.

“I still feel sick thinking about it. It was very frightening, I keep thinking what might have happened… [but] I was lucky Craig was there.

“It really was right place at the right time,” she added.

Ms Blackstone was visiting Dublin with friends from the UK when she was struck with the rocking horse at around 1am Friday week.

Over for a friend’s birthday party, she was rushed to St James hospital but was allowed to return home the next evening.

“I just want to say thank you Craig, thank you so much,” she said to Mr MacDougal, who was contacted by the Ray D’Arcy Show after a Facebook campaign helped put him in touch with Ms Blackstone.

“I honestly I don’t know what to say. I don’t remember much of it, but I’m thankful you where there.”

“Don't be daft,” responded the trained lifeguard. “I just did what anyone else would do.”

“As a typical Scotsman, I was away with the drink around 1am but when I saw the rocking horse come out of the window… [and] Tracy fall over, I went straight over to see if I could help.

“As soon as I got there, the cut seemed to just open up. My top was the only thing I had so I used it.”

Mr MacDougal stayed until emergency workers arrived to take the grandmother-of-two to hospital.

Before he left, Ms Blackstone's friends took his number, offering to buy him a new shirt to replace his blood-stained one.

But they missed a digit and were unable to reach him.

Ms Blackstone said her cousin posted a message on Facebook last week to find him, and after 7,000 people shared the appeal, they managed to get in touch with the Good Samaritan.

Mr MacDougal said: ''I was just doing what anybody else would do. They had problems reaching me because I turned off my phone the next day as my mum likes to worry about me and I really wanted a little peace and quiet while I recovered from the night before.”

“When I woke up on Monday, it was quite overwhelming. I never really thought much about it as I figure it was something anyone would do.

Online Editors