Crash victim Michael is 3rd pal laid to rest
BY
THE final funeral of the three pals who died in horror car crash last week took place yesterday.
Michael Kelly, 25, from Nurney in Co Carlow, was buried after a service in Hacketstown.
It followed the funerals on Monday of his friends Daryl Culbert, 21, from Co Wicklow, and Katie Graham, 19, from Co Laois.
Michael’s devastated mother Rita, brother Jordan, and girlfriend Sasha led mourners yesterday in St Brigid’s Church for the afternoon Requiem Mass.
Jordan and Sasha read eulogies, with younger brother Jordan telling mourners he was “blessed to have Michael as my big brother”.
He told his mother: “Mam, I know things are tough, but we will get through this together. Mam, me and Michael love you and you are an absolute legend.
“On behalf of me and Mike, I just wanted to say that you are an amazing mother and we couldn’t have asked for more.”
He added: “Sasha, you were the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle of Mike’s life and he found it and held onto it. Mike, I’ll always love you.”
Sasha, who is from Ukraine, said: “You loved me ’til the day you died. I will go through all my life with the love in my heart.
“You were my soulmate. I will never forget the day we met, the day you asked me to be your girlfriend, the day we kissed.”
She added that he made her the “happiest woman in the world” and “I will never stop loving you” and “you were the love of my life”. The friends died when the Lexus car that they were travelling in skidded after heavy rain, around five kilometres outside Carlow town, close to 11.30pm last Wednesday. Yesterday’s chief Mass celebrant, Fr Martin Smith, prayed for all three friends and said: “Welcome Rita, Jordan, and Sasha. We’re walking with you as best we can. We all feel it. We also remember Katie and Daryl, Mikey’s friends who passed away and also for their friend in hospital.” He added: “Mike’s car is outside and has probably never looked so good. It’s a tribute to him from all of us who love him.”
Symbols carried to the altar included a painting from Sasha of the couple, a family pic from Micheal’s First Holy Communion, his late father Michael’s racing helmet, a model racing car, and a pair of work trousers. Fr Smith told the heartbroken mourners for the young electrician known as Mike that they only “went for a spin”. He said: “‘Come on, let’s go for a spin’ and that’s all it was. But it is a spin that has robbed us of a glowing son, a smiling brother, of a loving boyfriend.”
Michael, who was predeceased by his loving dad Michael Snr, was laid to rest with his grandparents in Hacketstown Cemetery. Nathan Kelly, in his 20s and from Carlow, was seriously injured in the crash and is recovering in hospital.