Beloved son to be buried on his 20th birthday

A TEENAGER killed in Ireland’s worst road accident will be buried on his 20th birthday.

Paul Doherty, 19, was one of eight packed into a car which smashed into another vehicle in Co Donegal on Sunday.

The youths had been watching the World Cup final before they left Clonmany in the crowded vehicle but hit another car and careered into a third, killing a pensioner. Driver Seán Kelly is the only one still alive but is seriously ill in hospital.

Mr Doherty’s uncle, Cecil, said: “Any one of these young men could have been driving the car. We feel very, very much for the Kelly family in particular, whose son is seriously injured. Our heart goes out to them and we hope the community rallies behind them.”

Mr Doherty insisted they were not partying and were all friends, commanding great respect in their home villages in the Inishowen beauty spot.

He said they had behaved responsibly in leaving their cars in Clonmany, close to where the accident happened.

His nephew Paul, from the seaside village of Ballyliffin, has three brothers and a sister. His father is Felix and his mother Sally.

Paul’s uncle said his funeral would be held on his 20th birthday.

“Paul was a very kind-hearted young man, very hard-working young man, he was also a really good cook,” he said.

He worked for an engineering contractor driving vehicles and heavy equipment.

John McLaughlin, father of Mark, one of the victims, said the young men had all known each other since their early school days.

He has a farm at Ballynahone, Fahan, and added he did everything with his son, aged 21.

“Me and Mark were more like brothers,” the 44-year-old said.

“He’s been on the tractor with me since he was about 10.”

He was in Letterkenny Hospital seeking news of his son when he heard that he had been killed instantly: “I was that much stunned I didn’t really know how I felt... I just had to get out of the room at the time.”