Number plate found at the site of fatal hit-and-run
DEATH
A REGISTRATION plate from the suspected vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run which left a popular GAA coach dead was discovered at the scene, we can reveal.
This vital piece of evidence enabled investigators to trace the owner of the suspected vehicle alleged to have struck Niall Maceneaney and left him dead in the early hours of last Sunday.
The vehicle involved, a private car that is registered to a serving garda who was off-duty at the time, failed to remain at the location.
This comes as The Garda Ombudsman Commission, which has also opened up an investigation due to the alleged involvement of an off-duty garda in the incident, continues to interview a number of gardai as witnesses.
Mr Maceneaney, who managed Termonfeckin club St Fechin’s to the last two Louth senior hurling championship titles, was found unresponsive shortly after 2.40am on the Rathmullen Road in Drogheda, Co Louth, and was pronounced dead following the arrival of emergency services.
The former Louth hurling player’s funeral Mass is to take place this morning at 11.30am in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Drogheda followed by burial afterwards in Newtown Cross Lawn Cemetery.
Mourners have been asked by his heartbroken family to wear club jerseys to his funeral.
Earlier we revealed that CCTV footage tracing the movements of the suspect and vehicle in the fatal hit-and-run will prove vital in the investigation.
Investigators are working to determine if the garda, who is based in the northwest region, was driving the car at the time of the collision. The off-duty garda under investigation has been suspended but has not been arrested as investigations continue.