As parishioners entered the Sacred Heart Church in Clones, Co Monaghan, on Tuesday morning, there was one word on everyone’s lips - “devastating”.
“A night of celebration became a night of suffering and heartbreak,” said Fr Peter Corrigan, as he opened 10am mass at the church, referring to the road crash the previous night, in which Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16) were killed on the way to a debs. Three others were hospitalised with injuries.
Fr Corrigan asked those gathered at the church, which looks out over St Tiernach’s Park, to remember the two young victims as well as their families and friends in “a special way”.
Speaking earlier to The Irish Times, Fr Corrigan recalled how he had been called to the scene of the incident and “prayed over them”.
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“Young people, full of life and suddenly it’s all finished,” he said.
“It would have been a moment of great excitement in their lives and something they would have been planning and looked forward to for a long time. That moment of life, it has suddenly all changed.”
Fr Corrigan said the tragedy would be felt by the whole community of Clones and surrounding area for “a long time”.
The N54, where the road crash took place, remain cordoned off for much of the day.
Over at Largy College, where both Kiea and Dlava were students, a black ribbon was tied to the gates of the school, where a bunch of flowers also lay.
In a statement, the school said students, staff, parents and the Board of Management were in “deep shock following the tragic accident”.
[ Co Monaghan crash is every parent’s worst nightmare, says MinisterOpens in new window ]
School principal Sharon Magennis said it was with “profound sadness and grief” that they learned about the “devastating accident that resulted in the untimely and tragic loss of two cherished members of our school community”.
Ms Magennis said the school’s priority was now the welfare of students, parents and staff at “this difficult time”.
The secondary school opened to students seeking support on Tuesday afternoon.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, who is a TD for Cavan-Monaghan, also met with staff over the course of the day.
“This is a very difficult day for Clones, a particularly difficult day for Largy College,” the minister said.
“There is a dark cloud over the town and the wider community because this is very much a community school - it’s in a rural town and children from all nationalities and backgrounds come here.”
Ms Humphreys said she had wanted to show her own “support and solidarity” adding that it was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
“Last night, you had young girls and young boys all dressed up in their gowns to head to the debs and it has ended in tragedy. It is so sad,” she said.
Sinn Féin councillor Pat Treanor said he had seen a large number of students gathered at ‘The Diamond’ town square in Clones on Monday evening, which appeared to be a meeting point before heading to the debs, which was due to be held at a hotel in Monaghan town.
“There was such excitement and joy and people looking forward to a good night,” he said.
“Parents maybe fearful of what might happen but looking forward to their young people taking the next step in life and it’s just a horror what happened an hour or so later.”
David Maxwell, chair of Monaghan County Council, added that the community was “numb”.
“That young girls, going out for a debs, enjoying life, going for a fantastic night out and then for it all to be taken away from them in a split second in a road crash…it’s an awful tragedy for their families, for the school ... it’s going to leave lasting memories of not a good kind of what should have been a wonderful night.”
Caolán Faux, director of Youth Work Ireland in Cavan-Monaghan, said “shockwaves echoed far and wide” in the area following news of the accident.
“At the moment we’re waiting on inter-agency direction to come down and we’re just providing supports that are available through having trusted adults in the youth centre, just creating a safe space for young people,” he said.
“At this point everyone is just coming together to ensure we put forward the best supports that we can for the community.”
