Floral tributes were still being placed last night at the roadside where three young south Mayo men died in a head-on collision just minutes from their homes on Wednesday.
They were described by friends and neighbours as "sound country lads", three "friends for life" who lived "with cars, for cars".
Last night President Mary McAleese extended her sympathies to the families, in a message to the parish priest.
The funeral Mass for the three young men will take place at 1pm tomorrow in St Mary's Church, Ballinrobe.
Out at the scene, a bunch of flowers had been left by "a mother from Cork who lost her two sons in a car crash". "At home with God, now in heaven RIP," the accompanying inscription read.
The parish priest in Ballinrobe, Monsignor Tommy Shannon, at first thought he was rushing out to one fatality when he got the phone call.
"Michael Monaghan rang me to tell me there was a serious accident on the Castlebar road," Mgr Shannon recalled yesterday, speaking outside St Mary's Church.
"Then the fire brigade officers said that there were two others in the car, one person in the passenger seat, one in the back.Never before have I had to anoint three people in the same car, never have I seen anything like it, and then to learn that I knew these young men."
Pat Morley (24), his cousin Aaron Morley (20), both of New Street, Ballinrobe, and their friend Jonathan Donovan (21) of the Neale, just five kilometres away, were returning from Castlebar sometime after 6pm on Wednesday when their silver Mitsubishi Lancer collided with a truck just before the town's race-course on the N84.
The crash occurred on a straight stretch of road. The night was dark, but mild and dry. The car is reported to have broken up on impact on the hard shoulder, on the right hand side of the road. Among the many floral tributes marking the scene yesterday was one long-stemmed rose from Aaron's sister, Vanessa. "Aaron, I can't believe it. Goodnite, love you Vanessa," it read.
Aaron's aunt, Mary Morley, described her son, Pat, yesterday as "a young man with a heart of gold" who "couldn't do enough for you", and family members described him as great fun.
"When my younger son, Martin, was in hospital in Dublin for six weeks, Pat would complete his bread run to Clifden, Co Galway, come back to Ballinrobe to pick us up, and then drive the three hours to Dublin," Mrs Morley recalled.
The three men worked as delivery drivers for the Irish Pride bakery in Ballinrobe and in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
