Hundreds gathered in the rural village of Drumconrath, Co Meath, on Friday for the funeral of Alan McCluskey, one of five young people killed in a car crash in Co Louth at the weekend. Mourners were told there was “incomprehension” at the death of the 23-year-old, described as a “caring” friend.
Alan was travelling in a Volkswagen Golf with his girlfriend Chloe McGee, 23, and friends Dylan Commins, 23, Shay Duffy, 21, and Chloe Hipson, 21, to Dundalk for a night out on Saturday when the crash occurred. All five were killed.
Ahead of the funeral, dozens of tractors lined the main street of Drumconrath, and crowds gathered as Alan’s sisters and parents placed their hands on his wooden coffin, which bore a yellow licence plate with his name. Irish President Catherine Connolly was among the mourners at Peter and Paul’s Church and shook hands with Alan’s parents and three sisters.
Parish priest Father Finian Connaughton told mourners he had baptised Alan and was present for his first communion and confirmation. He said the sense of disappointment and loss was “beyond words”, and that the community was “carrying a burden that at times seems unmanageable and almost overwhelming”. Symbols brought to the altar included drumsticks, records by Luke Combs, AC/DC and Christy Moore, work boots, a hard hat, and models of a teleporter, a John Deere and cows, representing Alan’s loves of music, work, farming and machinery.
Father Connaughton recalled how a young man had said Alan “saved me” after being led away from the wrong crowd at age 14. Alan’s sister Sharon sang “Angel” and read a reflection about her brother, whom she called “the miracle boy”.
Funerals for the other victims are to take place later on Friday and Saturday: Dylan Commins at 2pm at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady in Ardee, and Chloe McGee and Shay Duffy in Co Monaghan on Saturday.
