Tributes have been paid to an All-Ireland-winning minor footballer who died after the car he was driving struck a wall in Co Mayo.
Darragh Doherty (19), from Kilmaine, scored a goal and two points in 2013 when Mayo won the 2013 final and was tipped to become a senior inter-county player in the future.
He was killed in the incident on the N84 some 2km south of Ballinrobe. His car hit a wall and was found on its roof in a field. A friend who was travelling in the vehicle with Mr Doherty is recovering in Mayo General Hospital.
In a statement on its website, Kilmaine GAA Club described Mr Doherty as “an outstanding footballer who brought honour to both club and county”.
“Darragh was a winner, a leader, expecting the high standards of those around him that he delivered himself,” the club said.
Neighbours, friends and members of the GAA community visited the Doherty family home throughout yesterday to offer their sympathy and support.
Darragh is survived by his father, Tom, mother Margaret, and brothers Cathal, Adrian, David and Gerard.
Stunned
Mayo minor team manager Enda Gilvarry said he was “just stunned and dumbfounded. It’s a terrible tragedy”.
“Darragh was a great character, always full of life. He was a pleasure to work with on the training pitch and the playing field,” he said.
“I’ll always remember the wonder goal he scored against Roscommon in the 2013 Connacht minor final.”
Local Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony, a former Mayo senior team manager, said Mr Doherty was “a gem” and that the news was “devastating for everyone who knew him”.
Mr O’Mahony said Mayo owed much of its All-Ireland minor success two years ago to Darragh who was forecast to have a very bright future at club and county level.
Separately, a Gaelic footballer was one of three men killed in a crash in Co Down.
Queen’s University student Peter Hughes, from Dromintee, Co Armagh, died after two vehicles collided on Sunday night on the dual carriageway between Dromore and Banbridge.
Sadness
The three men, two aged 20 and one aged 19, were travelling in a red Vauxhall Corsa which hit a black Volkswagen Tiguan on the northbound carriageway.
Queen’s University Belfast GAA posted a tribute on Facebook saying: “It is with great sadness that we learned of the sudden death along with two friends of our fresher footballer and friend Peter Hughes yesterday evening. A great character and a footballer with a big heart, the club and his team mates will miss him badly . . . Our thoughts and prayers are with Peter’s mother, father, brothers and sister.”
A woman travelling in the other car was hospitalised with injuries that are not life-threatening.