The death of a Co Donegal teenager in a crash last weekend “seems too much for a community to process”, mourners at his funeral have heard.
Tiernan Doherty-Kelly, from the Carndonagh area, died in a crash on the R244 road at Ballinlough in the early hours of Sunday.
The Gaelic footballer and soccer player became the fourth person to die on Donegal’s roads within the space of a week, and had just recently passed his driving test.
His death came in the wake of a crash on November 22 in the Liscooley area that claimed the life of two men from Castlederg - Ryan Glenn (25) and Gordy Galbraith, who was in his late 30s - and a pensioner from Lifford, Samuel Hunter, who died four days later.
At Thursday’s funeral service at Sacred Heart Church in Carndonagh, priest Fr Con McLaughlin said of Tiernan, who had played football with club CLG Charn Domhnaigh: “It all seems too much for a community to process.
“We ask God to protect our people, and our young people on the roads and keep them safe. Nobody wants to have to answer the door to a dreaded knock early in the morning.”
The priest also thanked the emergency services for their “courage and their enduring professionalism” following the crash.