{"id":654118,"date":"2026-08-24T16:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654118\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:37:12","slug":"what-the-boys-did-was-wrong-priest-tells-funeral-of-m9-crash-teenager-jeremy-obrien-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654118\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What the boys did was wrong\u2019, priest tells funeral of M9 crash teenager Jeremy O\u2019Brien \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A priest officiating at the fourth funeral of one of the five teenagers killed in the M9 motorway crash<\/a> told mourners that \u201cwhat the boys did was wrong\u201d. <\/p>\n

Fr Thomas Little, celebrating the funeral Mass for Jeremy O\u2019Brien (18) from Carlow in the Church of the Holy Family, Askea, on the outskirts of the town, said the young man\u2019s family prayed \u201cfor all those who were affected … and injured\u201d. <\/p>\n

The funeral of O\u2019Brien\u2019s cousin Alex McCarthy (16) took place in the same church<\/a> on Friday. <\/p>\n

The two were killed along with Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick<\/a> and Joe Carthy (15) and Jack Kennedy (17) from Athy when the BMW in which they were travelling was in a head-on collision near Moone, Co Kildare, at around 3am on Sunday, August 16th. <\/p>\n

The BMW was travelling the wrong way, heading southbound on the northbound carriageway of the motorway. Four occupants of the other car in the collision, a Hyundai travelling in the correct direction, remain in serious condition in three Dublin hospitals. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Who were the M9 crash teenagers?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sisters Alma and Niamh Kinsella, along with their younger sister Ella Hendricken and their seven-year-old nephew Yemi, were en route from Carlow to Dublin Airport at the time. <\/p>\n

Hundreds of mourners at O\u2019Brien\u2019s funeral were led by his mother Margaret; brothers Jamie, Felix, Myles and Vincent; and grandparents Mary and Felix.<\/p>\n

A framed photo of the young man was displayed on the pale wooden coffin as the service took place. <\/p>\n

\"FriendsFriends and family look on as the remains are taken from church after the funeral Mass of Jeremy “Bobbles” O’Brien on Monday. Photograph: Collins <\/p>\n

The priest said the family\u2019s \u201cgrief and sadness\u201d was made heavier because the crash has affected not just Jeremy. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral lives have been lost, and others have been seriously injured. Families have been changed forever. There are people in hospital fighting to recover, and there are families who are beginning the painful journey of learning to live with an empty place at their table.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the death of a young person was \u201calways difficult to accept\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something especially sad about a young life being taken suddenly, unexpectedly and before so many hopes and dreams have been realised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Death was \u201cnot the final word\u201d, however. \u201cGod who gave us life does not abandon us in death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile today we acknowledge that what the boys did was wrong, we must not allow tragedy to become the only story, as we pray for those who were injured and who have died. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo today we give thanks for the great gift of life, however short that may be.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brothers of O\u2019Brien became upset reading the prayers of the faithful, including \u201cfor all those affected by the accident\u201d, as family members at the front of the church comforted each other.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s coffin was carried on the shoulders of his family to a black carriage drawn by two black horses with plumes of bright blue decorating their heads. <\/p>\n

His remains were borne to the nearby St Mary\u2019s cemetery, where he was laid to rest next to his cousin. <\/p>\n

After he was lowered into the ground, pale blue and white balloons were released into the air, and mourners clapped, saying: \u201cFly high, Jeremy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Garda presence at the church was low-key, it was noticeably more visible at the graveyard. <\/p>\n

The final funeral, of Kennedy, will take place in Athy on Tuesday. Those of Carthy, McCarthy and Pustkowski took place on Friday<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A priest officiating at the fourth funeral of one of the five teenagers killed in the M9 motorway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[956,9,10,1845,18,13,14,6,19,17,3625,11,12,15,16,5,11697,7,8],"class_list":["post-654118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-carlow","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kildare","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-road-safety","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654118","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=654118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}