A passing stranger turned out to be a knight in shining armour for a west Cork couple when their baby was born at the side of the road. Elizabeth McCarthy and her partner Humphrey Kearney hit the road for Cork University Maternity Hospital at around 4am on Easter Sunday after Elizabeth began having contractions. With more than half the journey to go, the couple realised they weren't going to make it in time. Pulling in to the side of the road, they flagged down a passing car for help... the driver turned out to be Ryanair pilot Brian Coomey. With Humphrey holding a torch and the phone, emergency services were able to direct Mr Coomey on how to deliver the 8lbs 12oz baby boy. Conor Brian arrived at 5.15am, his second name chosen in honour of the hero pilot who helped deliver him. [caption id="attachment_240147" align="alignleft" width="914"] Elizabeth McCarthy and pilot Brian Coomey[/caption]   Elizabeth told Cork's Evening Echo:

“We called CUMH, they said they’d send an ambulance but I thought I could still make it. “But by the time we got to Ballinascarthy the baby was coming, so we pulled into the safest place we could find, which was near Hosford’s Garden Centre. “Labour with my other two children was much longer, but Conor was determined to come out quickly. “The lady on the phone from the ambulance service, Kate, was brilliant, she told me to get into the back seat of the car. My husband flagged down a car that was passing, and that complete stranger, Brian Coomey, became our knight in shining armour.”

Speaking to the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, Mr Coomey said “He arrived very hassle-free manner and started crying pretty quickly, coloured up, and everything was grand.” After a dramatic entrance into the world, baby Conor and his relieved parents are recuperating at home with Amy (4) and Denis (2). Phew. Picture credit: The Evening Echo