A teenage footballer was left waiting more than an hour for an ambulance in Cork at the weekend, despite being in 'extreme pain' after sustaining an injury on the field.

The HSE has insisted that the first available ambulance was immediately dispatched after sharp criticism from the boy's manager.

Mark Towler, the manager of Kilreen Celtic U-15 team, was frustrated and angry when the 14-year-old had to wait ‘unacceptably’ long for an ambulance on Saturday.

Kilreen Celtic were playing a soccer match in Ballyphehane when one of his players suffered the serious leg injury.

“It was a disaster," he told the Evening Echo. "I called the ambulance at 1.35pm and one only arrived from the dispatch centre which is only a few miles down the road, more than one hour later at 2.50pm.

"The injured player needed pain relief, but there was nothing we could do.”

Towler later expanded on the story in a Facebook post to Cork's Red fm, where he said: "I have never been so mad and ashamed of our health system".

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“He’s out of the hospital now, but he suffered a groin tear, which is extremely painful. He’s on crutches and he will be out of soccer for the rest of the season with the injury,” said Mr Towler.

Although Mr Towler praised the ambulance staff, he questioned the efficiency and efficacy of the ambulance dispatch system.

The Health Service Executive said that the first available resource was immediately dispatched to the scene, but all resources in the local area were engaged on other calls.

An emergency ambulance from Dungarvan was dispatched to the scene, but while the Dungarvan ambulance was on route an emergency ambulance became free in Cork City and was reallocated to this call arriving on scene at 2.49pm, the HSE said.