A 25-year-old prominent club GAA player was drowned after a punt he and a friend had taken on to the River Moy pass in Ballina, Co Mayo, last June overturned, an inquest was told yesterday.
Aidan McDonnell, a Vodafone engineer, of Kincon, Ballina, took the boat on to the river at high tide at The Quay, Ballina, in the early hours of June 4th last.
Owen Donoghue, a friend of the victim since their national school days, told an inquest yesterday in Ballina that he had been drinking with Mr McDonnell at a disco before the tragedy.
Afterwards, they had descended steps to the river and then decided to take a punt nearby on to the water.
The pair had turned back to the shore when their boat collided with an anchored vessel and capsized.
Mr Donoghue said they both got on to the anchored boat and then decided to swim to the shoreline but his friend had gotten into difficulties and disappeared.
Witness said that when he got to the shore, Mr Donoghue started to call Aidan but could not see him.
Dr Fadel Bennani, consultant pathologist at Mayo General Hospital, gave evidence that the victim was a fit and athletic person.
An inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death due to drowning in accordance with the medical evidence.