THE funeral will take place this evening and tomorrow of the former Lixnaw hurling star killed in a dreadful car crash on the main Kerry-Dublin road on Tuesday.
Roibeárd Thornton lost his life in the single vehicle collision that occurred between Junction 28 and 29, on the M7. The Renault Laguna in which he was travelling from his home in Castletroy, Co Limerick collided with a railing and a ditch at around 10.00am.
Roibeárd, a PHD graduate from the University of Limerick, where he worked as a life sciences researcher, was pronounced dead at the scene.
His sister, Aoife, is a Fine Gael member on Kerry County Council and he is a first cousin of Kerry team manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
A member of a very well-known Kerry family, he had been a talented hurler with Lixnaw GAA club. Roibeárd was part of the County Senior Hurling Championship winning team of 2005 and also won a County Minor Championship in 1997 and Under 21 County Championships in 1999 and 2002.
A Lixnaw club spokesman said: “This tragic news is keenly felt by all members of our club, but especially by those players and mentors who soldiered with him in the past. Roibeárd’s tragic loss has come as a terrible shock to all in our GAA community.”
He is survived by his wife, Niamh, daughter Sadhbh, parents Seán and Jody, siblings Aoife, Eoin, Una and Orla, parents-in-law, Maurice and Terry, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, niece, nephews, extended family and friends.
Roibeárd’s remains will repose at his family home in Ballingeragh, Lixnaw this Friday from 4pm to 8pm. The house will be private on Saturday morning and requiem Mass will be celebrated on Saturday in Our Lady Help of Christian’s Church, Milford, Castletroy, Limerick at 11.30am, followed by burial in Kilmurry Cemetery, Castletroy, Limerick.
