‘Kind’ Cliona deeply affected by rescuers’ deaths

A 26-YEAR-OLD Kilkenny woman rescued by two men who later drowned has been described by neighbours in the quiet country village where she lived as “a kind, intelligent and free-spirited young girl” who they fear will be deeply impacted by the tragedy.

Cliona Murphy and friend, Lee Fuller, were saved from the swollen sea on Owenahincha in West Cork on Sunday morning by Good Samaritans, Peter O’Keeffe and Jonathan Herlihy. The two men drowned as they saved the friends.

Yesterday, Cliona Murphy’s distraught and visibly shaken mother, Caroline, appealed for privacy and said they wanted time to come to terms with the near-loss of their eldest daughter and grieve for the two men who lost their lives saving hers.

“We don’t want to say any more. We just want our privacy,” a very traumatised Ms Murphy said at the door of their family home two miles from the Kilkenny village of Freshford.

Her husband, Finbarr, who is a Department of Agriculture vet was not commenting either.

Cliona spends most of her time in the Cork area and is not well-known in Freshford, one neighbour said. She grew up in nearby Woodsgift where the family formerly lived at The Old Rectory.

The family only moved to their new home, a white and burgundy-painted house surrounded by a low, natural stone wall on the Ballyraggett road out of Freshford about two years ago.

“Her father is a very well-known vet with the Department of Agriculture,” the neighbour said. It was only yesterday morning they learnt that their neighbour was one of those rescued in the tragedy.

“The family moved here a year-and-a-half to two years ago. They are better known in Woodsgift. Cliona was at the Ursuline Convent in Kilkenny for a few years but she moved to another school.

“She’s very much a free spirit, a very kind, loving and giving girl.

“She is extremely intelligent, she always was, but she never went on to college,” the neighbour added.

Ms Murphy was reportedly told by her daughter she wished she would have died, rather than her two rescuers.

“This whole tragedy has saddened her so much. We can not put into words how we feel over the loss of the two men who saved our daughter’s life.

“Cliona would do anything to save life herself. This has really upset her as she is the softest, most kind-hearted kid in the world and this has had a big effect on her,” said Ms Murphy.