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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Tragic death devastates Four Roads community
THE UNTIMELY and tragic death of Niall Coyle, following an unprovoked attack in Holland last week, has sent shockwaves through the community of Four Roads.
As family, neighbours and friends struggle to come to terms with the loss of the young electrician, widely regarded as a “gentle giant”, it is understood that the body of the deceased will be brought back to Four Roads for burial this week.
Son of Anne and Eamon Coyle, from Correal, Four Roads, and one of nine children, Niall had been working in Holland for the past few weeks when the unprovoked attack occurred in the town of Dordrecht, near Rotterdam.
The well known and liked Four Roads man died on Thursday last having sustained serious head injuries the unprovoked attack outside a café in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It is understood that Dutch Police have arrested a 45-year-old ex-military man in connection with the attack.
As the devastating news filtered through to the local community early last week, hundreds of friends, family and local residents gathered in the Church of the Good Shepherd in Four Roads on Wednesday night to pray for Niall’s recovery.
The 33-year-old, however, died on Thursday with his mother Anne, and one of his sisters and brothers at his bedside.
A satellite link was set up to enable his father, Eamon, and the rest of his family bid farewell Local parish priest Fr Francis Beirne said that Niall’s tragic death had devastated the community.
“The whole community is in deep shock. It has caused bewilderment, disbelief and devastation in the Coyle household and our prayers, sympathy and support are with them in this great hour of need,” Fr Beirne said.
Fr Beirne described Niall, who was well over six foot tall, as a “gentle giant” who had many “loveable qualities” and who was a “gentle, caring” person.
As a highly qualified electrician, Niall had also travelled to Australia and Norway for work, and his easy and gentle manner helped him to make friends wherever he went. This has made it all the harder for those who knew and loved him to come to terms with the awful tragedy.
“He was very friendly, a gentle caring sort of person. And that’s what makes it all the more difficult that he had to endure such a violent act; he epitomised gentleness,” Fr Beirne said.
Fr Beirne said that the “pain, shock, and heartache” was palpable in Four Roads, as the community struggled to come to terms with the circumstances which led to his death. “It’s absolutely devastating.
It’s repulsive that an innocent inoffensive, popular and talented young man, in the prime of his life, should meet with his death in such a vicious and violent act that was unprovoked. He was totally innocent and was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Fr Beirne added.
Recently retired school principal, Tommy Connolly, who taught Niall as a young boy at Tisrara National School, echoed the widely held sentiment that he was a “gentle giant”.
“He was a lovely young boy, who was very likeable. He grew up to become a big genial man, who was well known and liked across a very wide area and was adored by everyone,” Mr Connolly said.
An active GAA supporter, Niall played under-age hurling and was on the team that won the under-16s championships in 1992. Never losing his interest in sport, he was due to travel home last weekend to attend a local hurling dinner dance.
“He was home as much as he could and he had even bought a plane ticket home to make the local hurling dinner dance at the weekend and that just shows the community man that he was,” Mr Connolly said.
“He was a good humoured, jolly sort of chap, someone who made you feel good when you were in their company,” he added.
Niall’s tragic and untimely death has left the community numbed and at a loss for words, as the community and those who knew and loved him struggle to come to terms with the fact that he’s gone.
“It’s incredible to be talking about Niall in the past tense. He was such a gentle giant and he certainly wouldn’t have started a fight, if anything he would have walked away,” Mr Connolly said.
“The whole place is numb but the community is very much there for the Coyle family and will be there in the weeks and months ahead,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is offering consular assistance to the Coyle family as they make arrangements to repatriate his body.
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