ONE of two Cork youths who died following an incident involving a stolen car on Monday night was buried yesterday.
Mr Trevor O'Connell (17), of Park Lawn, Parklands and Mr Stephen Kirby (17), and also from Parklands in Fairhill on the north of the city were walking home from a takeaway when they were hit by a stolen car.
Mr O Connell died instantly and Mr Kirby died on Wednesday at the Cork University Hospital. His funeral will take place in Cork tomorrow.
The double tragedy has united the northside community in grief and there have been many calls for tougher measures against car thieves and young people who race stolen cars for fun. Yesterday, more than 1,000 people attended requiem Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Fairhill, to pay a last tribute to Mr O'Connell.
He was a popular young man who had been looking forward to a trial next season with the Derby County youth team in England. He was studying to become a motor mechanic.
Members of his football team, wearing their blue and white strip, were at the church and brought Mr O'Connell's jersey and a football to the altar at the acceptance of gifts. The congregation spanned all ages, but was mainly made up of young people. Mr O'Connell's friends from the neighbourhood came together to sing at his funeral Mass.
In his homily, Father Gus Byrnes, the local curate, said words were inadequate for such an occasion. He added: "When I think of Trevor now and imagine him in heaven, I see the colour green. I see the blue and white of his soccer colours. I see the brown of his coffin and the earth to which he is going. But most of all, I see green. I see fresh playing fields to where he has gone, and they are green."
"A lush place, a place of great growth, and I see Trevor. Trevor is still growing in God's love there. If he could talk to us I feel he would say I am at peace. Look after one another until we are together again.'"
Outside the church, hundreds of people lined the streets as the coffin was borne to the hearse. Young people wept as the funeral cortege moved towards the Rathcooney cemetery where Mr O Connell was buried. The chief mourners were his father, Mr Joseph O'Connell; his mother, Ms Jennie O'Connell; and brothers, Jim (26), Derek; (24), and George (22).