A Dublin man has cheated death after being bitten by a poisonous spider.

It is reported the man (24) went into cardiac arrest as he sat on his couch in Perrystown on Saturday.

The Irish Daily Star reports he spent 24 hours in intensive care and had to be injected with adrenalin twice.

"I've never felt pain like it," he told the paper - adding that the spider had embedded its fangs in his shoulder.

Doctors believe he was bitten three times by a spider called the False Widow.

The man's father, who was with him at the time, brought the spider to the hospital with them.

The bite is not normally fatal, but can cause extreme allergic reactions in some cases.