Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral Mass yesterday in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, for the couple and their three-year-old daughter who died in a car crash on Sunday evening.
John Maloney (33), from St Joseph's Place, Ballinasloe, and Yvonne Mahoney (24), from St Laurence's Field, Loughrea, were buried together along with their daughter, Bobbi-Ann, in Creagh Cemetery outside Ballinasloe.
Fr John Garvey told the hundreds who attended the Mass in St Michael's Church that the community was in grief for the loss of the couple and their young daughter.
"Each time we hear of a death on our roads, we know that some family will be receiving unexpected and dreadful news.
"That realisation began to set in for the Mahoney and Maloney families last Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning. In such circumstances lives are thrown into confusion and darkness," he said.
He sympathised with Yvonne's mother, Mary, and Johnny's parents, Pádraig and Martina, and their extended families, and said that the communities where they lived in Loughrea and Ballinasloe were grieving for their "indescribable" loss.
The couple were killed instantly when their Opel Corsa car was in collision with a Mazda 6 outside Athenry on Sunday evening.
The couple's daughter, Bobbi-Ann, who was in a rear seat, died a short time later at University College Hospital following the accident.
The Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby, presided at the funeral Mass for the three victims.
Ballinasloe town came to a standstill, with many businesses closing, as the two hearses - one which carried Ms Mahoney's coffin and that of her daughter - made the one-mile journey to Creagh Cemetery.
Mr Maloney's coffin was draped in a Liverpool FC jersey.
The three were buried together in a single grave at Creagh Cemetery.