THE VILLAGE of Taghmon came to a standstill on Friday afternoon as family and friends gathered to bid farewell to young secondary school student, David Nash Doyle who tragically passed away earlier in the week.

David, the son of David Doyle and Jenny Nash, was found dead at his home in Blackmoor, Cleariestown on Wednesday evening. Following an examination of the scene the Gardai were satisfied that his death was accidental.

It is understood that he was attempting to make a swing during that day and had become tangled up in it. His grandmother Ann Nash said: “It was pure fun which turned tragic.”

She added that he was “a normal little 13-year-old chap who loved school. He even had his runners and school bag sorted out, ready to go back in September.”

At his funeral mass in St. Fintan’s Church, Taghmon on Friday, Parish Priest, Fr. Sean Gorman said it was “with great sadness, grief and sorrow that we gather here this afternoon to celebrate the funeral mass and surrender the life of David to almighty God.”

He described the bright young 13-year-old’s life as one which was full of “the goodness, happiness, excitement and vitality of youth,” and said that his death was “sudden, tragic, accidental and unexpected.” He said that people had gathered to offer support and comfort for David’s family in the wake of such tragic and heartbreaking sadness and sorrow.

David, he said, was 13-years-old, was born in Wexford and had attended the Christian Brothers Primary School and Wexford Vocational College where he was a first-year student: “He was brilliant in school; he loved reading, football and motorbikes and he had a hopeful and very promising life and career ahead of him.”

David is survived by his parents David Doyle and Jenny, his siblings Shannon, Tara, Calum and Connor, his grandparents Michael and Ann Nash, and Kathleen Doyle; and extended family and friends.

[Full story in this week’s Echo]