‘You owe it to Jonathan Byrne to say no to neknomination’

Young people at the funeral of a teenager who died after taking part in a ‘neknomination’ challenge at the weekend have been urged to be brave and say no in order to halt the craze which has left a family “torn asunder”.

Up to 500 people who came to say their final farewells to Jonathan ‘Jonny’ Byrne in his home village of Leighlinbridge in Co Carlow listened in silence yesterday as parish priest Fr Thomas Lalor spoke of the peer pressure that leads to many risks and challenges which can have “disastrous consequences”.

The 19-year-old’s body was found on Sunday morning, hours after he drank a pint and entered the River Barrow at Milford Bridge. He was laid to rest yesterday.