The car involved in the crash that killed two teenagers in Roscommon early yesterday morning - and left two others seriously injured - was stopped by gardaí just a few hours before the horrific smash.
A local priest yesterday described the dead and injured as "four lovely young lads."
All four had been classmates at Roscommon Community College and sat their Leaving Certificate exams this year.
It emerged yesterday that a garda operating in Roscommon town had stopped the bright yellow high-spec Honda Civic on Thursday evening and given a friendly caution to the young men to take care on the road.
It is not believed the car was travelling at excessive speed at that time.
Two communities just outside Roscommon town were affected by the tragedy.
Kieran Kelly (17) and Pádraig McHugh (17) were killed when the car in which they were back-seat passengers went out of control on a bend on the Roscommon-Boyle road.
Driver Colm Mee (17) and front-seat passenger Paul O'Grady (18) were removed to hospitals following the 2am crash.
They were in serious condition in hospitals last night in Roscommon and Galway.
The crash happened as the four young men were on their way to their homes in Oran and Fourmilehouse, two small communities close to Roscommon town.
The car smashed through a low stone wall and wire fencing and flew through the air before landing in a field more than 10 metres from the road.
Garda technical experts carried out an extensive examination of the scene at Mullymux. A lengthy trail of skid marks was visible on the roadway.
"I knew all four of the lads and their families well," said local priest Fr Donal Morris. "They were heavily involved in sport and community life. They played GAA together for Oran and also played soccer.
"They had just set out into the workforce having recently completed their Leaving Certs. I also know their families well - I buried one of the lad's father and grandmother.
"When I heard the news I went to see the families at the hospital. They are all very shocked and doing their best and people locally are devastated," Fr Morris added. "The lads were just starting out in life. It was all ahead of them. The families all know each other intimately."
Students at Roscommon Community College remembered the four youths at a special reflection room established in the school yesterday morning. The school then closed for the day.
"When they finished here last June they presented me with a farewell gift," said principal Frank Chambers. "That's the kind of lads they were and the kind of respect they had.
"They were good lads who came from decent families and I hadn't a day's bother with any of them. They were just a small class but they all had big personalities."
Yesterday the parish priest of Fourmilehouse, Fr Raymond Browne, made a special appeal to the National Roads Authority to improve the road. "There have been five people killed on this road since I came here 20 years ago and the road is a sub-standard, national secondary road," he said.