Community left shocked as crash kills two young men

A COMMUNITY in Co. Mayo has been plunged into shock following the deaths of two young men in a devastating road crash on Monday night.

Those who died were named locally as Jack O’Hora, 20, formerly of Castleconnor, Co. Sligo, and Ricky Langdon, 28, from St Patrick’s Estate in Ballina, Co. Mayo.

The horrific collision took place on the Killala Road just outside Ballina shortly after 11pm, when a vehicle crashed into a tree.

A third male – a passenger in the vehicle, which was believed to be an Audi A6 – was seriously injured and was last night recovering at Mayo University Hospital.

Mr O’Hora played football with Castleconnor GAA Club in west Sligo before joining the British army and was highly regarded locally.

He attended secondary school at St Muredach’s College in Ballina, and it is understood he had been staying in the area while home on leave from overseas military duties.

Tributes to the men began appearing on Twitter yesterday evening. One, referring to Mr Langdon, read: ‘R.I.P. to a gentleman. Gone but never forgotten.’

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Annie May Reape told the Irish Daily Mail that the young men were well known in Ballina, describing their families as ‘popular’ and ‘hard-working’.

‘It’s just heartbreaking… I can’t even just imagine what’s going through their (families’) minds at the moment,’ she said.

‘I just can’t imagine the sense of pain they’re going through now.’

Speaking to this paper, Fine Gael councillor Jarlath Munnelly said the community was in shock in the wake of the crash. ‘People woke up this morning and heard of a diversion on the road and then it turned into this tragedy,’ he said yesterday.

Priests of Ballina parish, in a joint statement, said: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other relatives of the deceased.’