TRAGEDY AS CO DOWN MAN DIES IN SCOTLAND

CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENT CLAIMS LIFE OF FATHER (45)

A CO DOWN father-of-three has been killed in a building site tragedy in Scotland.

Kilcoo lorry driver Conor Morgan (right) was working at the site in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, when the accident happened on Wednesday morning.

Police and emergency services were called but Mr Morgan (45) died at the scene.

Family friend and chairman of Kilcoo GAA club Terry O’Hanlon described Mr Morgan — husband to Shirleen and dad to teenagers Gerard, Anthony and Jason — as a model family man.

He said: “Conor was a model father. His three sons were very close to him and he was fantastic when it came to the club, he left us to it and encouraged the boys to do their best.

“Conor played for the club up until his early 20s then his lorry driving started taking him away off to the continent and over to England and Scotland.

“The three boys are replicas of him. Jason plays for the under-14s, Anthony for the minors and under-16s and Gerard has just made it onto the senior panel.

“They were all very close to their dad and he really was a model family man, with his wife Shirleen doing great work for the club, too.

“It’s an absolute tragedy for them and we’re all just devastated. “Conor was in the middle of building a new house for the family, so it’s just a terrible thing to happen but we’re all thinking of them and will do whatever we can.” A Facebook message posted by St Malachy’s Parish Kilcoo said: “The entire community of Kilcoo is devastated to learn of the untimely and tragic death of Conor Morgan, we would like to offer our most heartfelt condolences to his wife Shirleen, his sons Gerard, Anthony and Jason, his mother Brigid, brothers Patrick and Niall, sisters Mary Teresa, Pauline and Rita at this heartbreaking time.”

Police Scotland said Mr Morgan’s death was not being treated as suspicious, adding a post-mortem will be conducted to establish the exact cause of his death. It is the second tragedy to hit the area, following the death of Castlewellan teen Conall O’Hare on Tuesday.

Conall, who died days after celebrating his 18th birthday, will be buried today at St Patrick’s Church, Bryansford.