It made for a special moment on WLR this morning!...

A mother whose 13-year-old son got into serious difficulty while swimming in Clonea Strand yesterday (Wednesday) - and the man who was instrumental in his rescue.

Thomas Shaw Hamilton is living in Stradbally and witnessed the boy, and another teen, getting into difficulty at the beach yesterday afternoon.

Thomas was there helping out his mam whom, ironically, was doing a swimming class when he witnessed the boys quite far out in the water.

He ran out to the water's edge, swam to them and handed them a life-jacket to help keep them afloat.

Thomas'  sister called the emergency services at the same time and the boys, who were very shaken, ended up being removed from the water by the Rescue 117 helicopter.

They were brought to UHW for treatment but were fine.

This morning, 'Deise Today' spoke to Thomas live on air about what had happened.

And in surprise twist, the mam of one of the boys he saved, called into the show and was able to thank Thomas directly live on air!

You can listen to Thomas - and Elena - talking to Damien by clicking on the image above...