Driver in his 40s dies after crashing into tree
A MAN in his 40s has died after a single-car crash in Co. Tipperary.
The driver, who was named locally as Joe Lawlor, a prominent local darts player.
Gardaí are investigating the crash, the scene of which was discovered at 9.45am yesterday at Portroe where the drive had crashed into a large tree at the side of the road.
Mr Lawlor was the only occupant of the car and was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to Limerick University Hospital where a postmortem is expected to take place.
Mr Lawlor was a member of the Seymour’s Bar Darts Club, where he was known by the nickname ‘The Entertainer’.
‘He was nicknamed “The Entertainer” on our darts team. It is a nickname that really summed him up cause if you were in the worst of moods, if you were feeling down, if there is any man who would pick you up, it was him. He was a laugh a minute,’ said Mike Donnellan, one of Mr Lawlor’s teammates.
‘The man, I don’t even know how to put it into words, he was friendly – he was a warm character.’
Mr Donnellan said that the area is a small close-knit community of less than 1,000 people, adding that the community and his dart teammates are all in shock.
A shaken Mr Donnellan said last night: ‘We are just here now, some of the darts team, and we are there looking at the dart board and we can’t even pick up our darts.’
It is understood that Mr Lawlor crashed just a couple hundred yards away from his home in Portroe. The road was sealed off for forensic examination for a period of time yesterday. The death brings to eight the number of fatalities on Tipperary roads this year.