{"id":194645,"date":"2025-11-22T16:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/194645\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:58:11","slug":"fragile-unpredictable-life-funerals-of-co-louth-car-crash-friends-take-place-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/194645\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fragile, unpredictable life\u2019 – funerals of Co Louth car-crash friends take place \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds gathered in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan on Saturday to pay tribute to friends Chloe McGee (23) and, at a later service, Shay Duffy (21) who died in a car crash in Co Louth last weekend<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The funeral of Ms McGee, at St Joseph\u2019s Church, heard how friends remembered her as a \u201cbubby character with infectious laughter and smiles that could light up any room\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Duffy was described as \u201cthe best brother ever\u201d by his younger brother Vinnie, at his funeral mass at Saint Patrick\u2019s Church, Rockchapel.<\/p>\n

President Catherine Connolly<\/a> and the Taoiseach\u2019s Aide de Camp, Commandant Joe Glennan, who represented Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a>, were among those in attendance at both services.<\/p>\n

\"AA guard of honour at the funeral of Chloe McGee on Saturday. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill \"PresidentPresident Catherine Connolly arrives at the funeral of Chloe McGee at St Joseph\u2019s Church, Carrickmacross, Co, Monaghan. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Monsignor Shane McCaughey, who led Ms McGee\u2019s funeral mass, said she was born into a loving farming family and had \u201cexcelled\u201d at Inver College, Carrickmacross, where she was head girl and Student of the Year.<\/p>\n

She graduated from University Limerick and began teaching at \u00d3 Fiaich Institute, her \u201cdream job\u201d, and where she was recently made permanent. <\/p>\n

Msgr McCaughey said faith was \u201ccentral to her being\u201d while sports, Macra na Feirme and farming were her hobbies. <\/p>\n

Students from \u00d3 Fiaich Institute lined the streets of Carrickmacross, as did members of Macra na Feirme. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The five young people killed in Co Louth crash Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In a communion reflection, Ms McGee\u2019s brother Aaron said \u201cthe ordinary turned into the unthinkable\u201d in one moment.<\/p>\n

He said his sister and her boyfriend, Alan McCluskey (23), who also died in the collision, had \u201ca way of becoming children\u201d whenever they were together \u2013 \u201cplayful and unfiltered\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0An adventurous spirit carried Dylan Commins \u2018through every chapter of his life\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cRest gently, Chloe. You are missed in ways words can only try to hold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Offertory gifts included Ms McGee\u2019s car keys, photographs, a cowboy hat, her passport and a jersey from \u00d3 Fiaich Institute. Ms McGee is survived by her parents Kieran and Eileen and siblings Stephen, Aaron and Nicola.<\/p>\n

Later on Saturday, the funeral service of Mr Duffy heard \u201chow fragile and unpredictable life can be\u201d and despite now being \u201cforever 21\u201d, how the young man had lived a \u201cvery full and impactful life\u201d. <\/p>\n

He had undertaken an apprenticeship in plumbing, completing his studies at Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone and Dundalk Institute of Technology, Father Ben Hughes told the congregation.<\/p>\n

\"MournersMourners at the funeral of Shay Duffy, at St Patrick’s Church, Rockchapel, Co. Monaghan. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill \"MournersMourners line the streets as Shay Duffy’s remains are brought to St Patrick’s Church, Rockchapel, Co Monaghan, for his funeral. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Mr Duffy was \u201ca genius in the restoration of cars and tractors\u201d, he said, and was \u201can initiator who was project driven, always on the go, confident and a problem solver\u201d.<\/p>\n

His younger brother Ben said Mr Duffy was the \u201cbest brother to me and Vinnie\u201d. \u201cI will miss not seeing you but I know you will be watching over us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for everything you did for us, especially getting us sweets and jerseys. We will love you forever\u201d.<\/p>\n

A guard of honour was formed by members of Magheracloone Mitchell\u2019s GAA club, Carrick Rovers AFC and Scoil Bhride, where Mr Duffy attended.<\/p>\n

Offertory gifts included photographs, a pair of brown boots and work trousers, his watch, phone and aftershave.<\/p>\n

Mr Duffy is survived by his parents Raymond and Carmel, and younger brothers Vinnie and Ben. <\/p>\n

In a memorial booklet handed out at the church, Mr Duffy\u2019s parents said they wanted to give \u201ca heartfelt thanks\u201d to family, friends, the community and all those who had supported them over the last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour care and kindness has touched us deeply and will never be forgotten,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The five friends were travelling together in a Volkswagen Golf on their way for a night out in Dundalk when their car collided with a Toyota Landcruiser last Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The funerals of Mr McCluskey and Dylan Commins (23) took place on Friday. Chloe Hipson (21), who was from Scotland and living in Co Monaghan, was also killed in the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds gathered in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan on Saturday to pay tribute to friends Chloe McGee (23) and, at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,23664,15,16,35046,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-194645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-louth","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-monaghan","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115594416709634121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}