Horrific crash kills teen and leaves two seriously injured
A CATASTROPHIC crash claimed the life of one man and left two of his friends seriously injured when the car they were travelling in hit a stone wall in the early hours of yesterday.
Oisín Cahill (18) was the front-seat passenger in the car, which left the road in the single-vehicle crash on the Shanaway Road at Woodstock, about 2km outside Ennis, Co Clare.
He was pronounced dead shortly after the incident, which happened at approximately 4.20am.
The driver, Darragh Killeen (19), and rear-seat passenger Enda Hickey (22) were both seriously injured and were rushed to University Hospital Limerick.
Clinging
Mr Cahill and Mr Killeen are from the townland of Clonfeigh, about 5km west of Ennis.
Mr Hickey is from the nearby townland of Kilmaley.
Darragh Killeen was clinging to life last night, while Enda Hickey was said to be in a serious condition.
It is thought that two of the three young men are cousins.
The three friends were travelling from the Ennis direc- tion when the Toyota Avensis crossed the road, then crashed into a stone pillar at the entrance to Woodstock View housing estate. Tyre tracks could be seen crossing the roadway where the accident happened.
Locals said Mr Cahill and Mr Hickey were both past pupils of Rice College in Ennis and Mr Killeen was a student at St Flannan’s College in the Co Clare town.
It is understood that the three friends had been at a hurling match on Saturday, where two of the group were on a local team panel and one went as a spectator.
They were returning home when the crash happened.
Gardaí arrived at the scene within minutes of the alarm being raised.
It is believed that they were quickly alerted to the collision by locals, who had heard the noise of the impact.
A doctor from ShannonDoc, the out-of-hours GP service, also responded to the incident and was followed soon afterwards by two units of the fire brigade, three ambulances and a rapid response advanced paramedic unit.
Fire crews had to cut one of the victims from the wreckage of the car, which was described by one emergency services worker as “mangled and almost unrecognisable”.
Fire service first responders assisted paramedics with CPR, which they carried out on the injured.
The road was closed after the crash in order to facilitate an examination by the Garda forensic collision investigators and local diversions were put in place.
The fire service placed protective screens around the car in an effort to shield it from public view.
Entrance
The crash occurred opposite the entrance to Woodstock Hotel and Woodstock Golf Club.
The area is also a popular spot for walkers and leisure cyclists.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the tragic crash to come forward.
Witnesses can contact them at Ennis Garda Station on (065) 684 8100, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or at any garda station.
In 2005, just a kilometre from the scene on the same road, a 17-year-old girl died after the car she was travelling in overturned and crashed. That single-vehicle accident happened as a group of friends were making their way from a house party to a nightclub in Ennis.