THERE WAS an element of the Christmas miracle in play in Monageer on Christmas morning after a potentially catastrophic car accident took place outside the church just before 10 a.m. Mass.

A two-car collision occurred about ten minutes prior to the Christmas Day Mass and it was delayed for a period while the scene outside was attended to. The collision resulted in the destruction of a section of the schoolyard wall opposite the church but could, according to some locals, have had a much more disastrous effect under different circumstances.

Parish priest, Fr. Bill Cosgrave explained that the two cars, travelling in opposite directions, had collided just outside the church and that both vehicles suffered significant damage.

He said that he had announced to the church about the accident and that Mass was delayed for a few moments to allow those outside to make their way in.

“Thankfully, no one was badly injured. I understand both went to hospital as a precautionary measure but there were no injuries. There was a child in one of the cars but they were safely strapped in.

“I suppose there was some bad luck but also some good luck in that no one was hurt. But it was a little bit of excitement that we could have done without.”

One local, who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, said that no one seemed to know what exactly had happened: “When we were coming out of mass, there were a few people giving statements but we don’t know what exactly happened. Normally if you hear of an accident in the churchyard, you’d expect that it was a case of someone reversing into someone but it was a bit of a shock when we came out to that scene.”

However, the local added that they were not surprised there had been an accident on the road as it was a straight path and there was a continuous problem with speed on it.

“We’ve been to council lots of times to ask them to do something about it. It’s a straight road and there’s nothing like speed bumps to slow anyone down as they go through the village and people race through.”

They added that the location of the demolished wall was usually a place where people parked on the morning of Mass and said it was a stroke of good luck that there wasn’t anyone parked there, taking kids out of their car. He believed Midnight Mass the night before had taken a lot of the Christmas morning crowd meaning that the usual parking spaces were empty on this occasion.

“There could have been a couple of fatalities here on a normal day. But something has to be done along this road. We’ve had one lucky escape but it’s an accident waiting to happen.”