{"id":658331,"date":"2026-08-27T00:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/658331\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T00:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:13:16","slug":"touching-tributes-paid-to-bright-young-man-19-killed-in-meath-hit-and-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/658331\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching tributes paid to &#8216;bright&#8217; young man (19) killed in Meath hit-and-run"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to a 19-year-old man who died following a hit-and-run incident in Co Meath.<\/p>\n<p>The collision, which involved a van and a bicycle, occurred at Nugentstown, Kells at 8.05pm on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n<p>The van failed to remain at the scene, where the cyclist was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n<p>Garda\u00ed have since recovered the van, and it is believed that the driver has been interviewed by garda\u00ed in Kells.<\/p>\n<p>The deceased has been named locally as TJ McDonnell from Durhamstown, Bohermeen, Co Meath.<\/p>\n<p>In a touching tribute, his local football club Bohermeen Celtic FC, with whom he played, said: \u201cTJ was a huge part of the Bohermeen Celtic family. His journey with the club began as a young player at Under-8 level and continued right through the age groups to Youths and Senior football.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout those years, TJ made countless memories, friendships and connections that will remain part of the fabric of our club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They went on to say his contribution to Bohermeen Celtic went beyond playing.<\/p>\n<p>TJ was a member of the academy coaching group, \u201cgiving his time, enthusiasm and knowledge to help the next generation of players\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was hugely popular with the academy kids, who looked up to him and loved having TJ around the club,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis natural warmth, patience and ability to connect with young players were clear for all to see\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dunboyne College of Further Education described TJ as a \u201cbright, well-mannered student who was a pleasure to teach\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Locals also paid tribute to TJ. One said he was the \u201cfriendliest and [most] well-mannered young man you could ever meet\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>TJ is survived by his parents Paul and Aishling, brothers Ryan and Paul Jr, sisters Katie and Hollie-Rose, as well as their extended family. No funeral arrangements have been made as yet.<\/p>\n<p>Garda\u00ed are appealing for any witnesses to the incident to come forward.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who may have been travelling in the area of Nugentstown, Kells on Tuesday between 7.30pm and 8.30pm, and who may have camera footage, including dash cam or mobile phone recordings are asked to make this footage available to garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information is asked to contact Kells Garda Station on (046) 928 0820, or the garda confidential line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to a 19-year-old man who died following a hit-and-run incident in Co Meath. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,45288,6,16807,19,17,94334,11,12,15,16,1873,5,206373,278279,7,8],"class_list":["post-658331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-garda-investigation","tag-headlines","tag-hit-and-run","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kells","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-meath","tag-news","tag-road-traffic-accident","tag-tj-mcdonnell","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117164586252494396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658331","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=658331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}