An inquest in Cork has been told how a 19-year-old student died after he drank what was described as a lethal amount of alcohol.

The coroner's court was told that paramedics could not resuscitate Gary Murphy from Palm Drive, Grantstown Village, Waterford, when they were called to his apartment by friends with whom he had been drinking.

He died ten days later at Cork University Hospital.

Mr Murphy, a second-year Arts student at University College Cork, was a keen hurler, and was a member of the Ballygunner U-21 team that won the Waterford Championship on 5 December last year.

The following night they returned to Cork to celebrate their win, and a number of them gathered in Mr Murphy's apartment at Victoria Mills, Victoria Cross, in Cork.

Mr Murphy was drinking cans of beer. He and his friends started a drinking game which involved pulling a card from a deck of playing cards and drinking different amounts of alcohol, depending on the card picked.

The inquest at Cork City Coroner's Court was told that Mr Murphy had more than ten cans of beer before he started drinking vodka neat from a one-litre bottle.

Some of his friends put down money and dared him to drink about a quarter of a litre of the alcohol straight.

He drank around half a litre of vodka in total, in addition to the beer he had drunk earlier.

He became drunk, and fell on a coffee table in the apartment and on the concrete floor of the balcony outside.

He was asleep on a couch when some of his friends removed his clothes.

He was put into an elevator naked and sent up a number of floors before the elevator returned. He was then put to bed. Two more friends then shaved off one of his eyebrows.

Minutes later one of his friends noticed that Mr Murphy's lips had turned blue.

He was placed in the recovery position and an ambulance was called. He was removed to Cork University Hospital but slipped into a coma.

He died ten days later of bronchial pneumonia. The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane described Mr Murphy's death as an unbearable loss. She said the facts of the case were a testament to the risks associated with high alcohol intake.

Speaking at the inquest, Mr Murphy's father Liam said his son's death had devastated their family.

He said Gary loved life, he loved hurling, student life and UCC. He said he missed him terribly but also had great memories.