Students killed in Limerick crash named locally

TWO MEN who tragically lost their lives in a collision in Limerick have been named locally. 

Darragh Dullea, aged 20, from Clonakilty, Cork and Cillian Kirwan, aged 19, from Piltown, Kilkenny, were killed in the incident on the N69 on Tuesday evening. According to gardaí the car collided with a wall.

Two other young men in the car were taken to University Hospital Limerick for treatment for non-life threatening injuries. 

All four men were second year students in Agricultural Mechanisation at Salesian Agricultural College, Pallaskenry. The course is run jointly by Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). 

Students from the college laid flowers near the scene of the single-car collision at Ballyengland, near Askeaton on Wednesday. 

TUS are currently providing counselling services for students and staff at the college to help them with their loss. 

“It’s tragic and it’s shocking. We’re numb here in the college this morning and their fellow students are numb,” said Derek O’Donoghue, principal of Salesian Agricultural College.

“It’s tragic, two young lives lost… It’s hard putting words on it, to be quite honest.

“We hear it every weekend… It’s only when it comes onto your own doorstep, that it really hits home and unfortunately, we lost two young lives last night,” Mr O’Donoghue added.

The bodies of the deceased were removed to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick, where a post-mortem will take place in due course.

The fire service was alerted just after 7:30pm to the incident which occurred in the townland of Ballyengland Lower, around two kilometres outside Askeaton on the Limerick side of the town.

Gardaí, the National Ambulance Service and four units of the fire service responded - including two units each from Foynes and Rathkeale.

Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and who were travelling in the area at the time, are asked to make this footage available to gardaí. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Askeaton garda station 061 601630 or any garda station.