Dark cloud over area searching for explanation

INVESTIGATION Garda at laneway

THE scene where unimaginable horror unfolded on a quiet family farm was still preserved yesterday, but not many wanted to get too close as shock hung over the area.

One garda sat watching the narrow laneway which begins about a mile from the O’sullivan home.

“We can’t get our head around it,” a local told the Irish Mirror.

“Nobody will get over it. I just can’t stop thinking about Ann, I don’t know how she will go on.”

The farm sits between Assolas and Castlemagner village just a couple of minutes away.

There, two little boys kick a ball around the local GAA ground where brothers Mark and Diarmuid once played. Just 24 hours earlier armed gardai and rescue helicopters were landing in the area.

The O’sullivans were well-known, although they mainly kept to themselves. Tadgh was raised just a few miles away in Lombardstown and Ann grew up in Assolas.

Both Mark and Diarmuid went to school in Kanturk’s Colaiste Treasa and had played underage GAA.

One man said: “You couldn’t meet better. People are devastated.

“It’s like there’s a dark cloud around the place. We all knew something was up but it was agonising as news came through.

“We saw all the helicopters and that’s when it was really clear it was going to be bad news.”

Diarmuid worked in Burton’s Hardware in Kanturk, while his dad plied his trade at Greenhall’s dealership in the nearby Buttevant.

Staff in both were as confused as they were distraught – and many of their questions will remain unanswered no matter what the postmortems and inquest throw up.