Village struggles to deal with fatal road collision

ON A day when villagers should have been discussing the New Year’s Eve entertainment in Silvermines’ only pub, Hickey’s, they were instead huddled in groups discussing the tragic events of the previous night.

The three dead boys were all friends on their way to Silvermines, a picturesque, sleepy village nestled at the start of the Slieve Felim way, a walking trail, when the car they were in struck a tree.

Ringing in the new year in Hickey’s pub is usually at the heart of celebrations for the village, but the festive feeling soon turned to disbelief when news of the deaths of three young teenagers filtered through.

Celebrations were cut short and all talk turned to who had been involved in the accident before it eventually emerged that all those who perished were connected to the village in some way or another.

Publican Tom Hickey said the news hit everyone very hard, with many shaking their heads in disbelief at the loss of lives.

“It is such a tragedy and it has affected families all over north Tipperary. It’s so sad to think that three young lives can be cut short so quickly,” he said.

He expressed his deepest sympathies to the families affected.

“It’s desperate news to get on a day like New Year’s Eve. Firstly, it was only rumours that began to filter through following the accident but when the full extent of the accident was realised we immediately stopped the music and all celebrations were ceased. It is such a tragedy that it has not really sunk in yet,” he said.

Throughout the day locals dropped into the Our Lady of Lourdes Church at the apex of the village, lighting candles and whispering prayers in hushed tones for the souls of the departed young people.

“It’s an awful tragedy. We are just shocked that something so tragic can happen. I mean three young lives snuffed out in just an instant. The poor families, they must be heartbroken, my heart goes out to them,” one local churchgoer said.

And in the nearby town of Nenagh and in Newtown village, all talk was of the fatal accident and the events surrounding the tragic event, with prayers offered for the families of the deceased at morning Mass in Nenagh.

In the Cormack Drive estate in Nenagh, teenagers gathered in groups, phones clutched in hands, comforting each other as they attempted to deal with the deaths of three friends.