A 17-year-old talented footballer has died after a fire broke out in the kitchen of his home in Wilton on the southside of Cork city.
The youngster, who was named locally as Evan Kidney was found dead at his home in Elmvale at around 3pm this afternoon. Emergency services responded to the calls but they were unable to save the teenager who was pronounced dead at the scene.
His mother Siobhan was being consoled by relatives outside the family home this afternoon. Gardaí are investigating the incident but it is not being treated as suspicious. It is thought that Evan was possibly overcome by smoke following a chip pan fire.
A neighbour described the Kidney family as being quiet, respectable people.
“There are three boys there to the best of my knowledge. I think they are from about 17 to 21. You would see the boys in and out with friends. Good lads with lots of friends.”
A spokeswoman for Greenwood FC confirmed that Evan was a member of the club and played a match as recently as last week.
“This time last week he was playing a match with us with the Under 18s and I think he was involved in an under 19s match too.”
A postmortem is expected to be carried out at Cork University Hospital tomorrow.