POLITICIANS, entertainers and members of the sporting fraternity were among hundreds of people who packed St Mary's Church in Castleblayney yesterday for the funerals of two men, one the chairman of Castleblayney UDC, killed in a road crash earlier in the week.
Mr Peter Lynch (62), a father of three, who had been a Fianna Fail councillor for 22 years, and Mr Thomas Murphy (41), a single man, were buried in the local cemetery.
Business premises closed and local authority offices were shut in the Border town yesterday as a mark of respect.
Father Vincent Morris, who offered Requiem Mass, said the town was traumatised by the double tragedy.
The acting Town Clerk, Miss Ann Kellett, led the singing during the funeral service, and a colleague of Mr Lynch, Mr Michael Geoghegan, recited a specially composed poem which expressed the grief in the town over the two deaths.