Updated at 11.40pm
TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to the two men who died in a freak accident on a Limerick bridge over the weekend.
TJ O’Herlihy (36) from Castleisland in Kerry and Bryan Whelan (29) from Broadford in Clare died on Saturday while carrying out remedial works on Thomond Bridge in Limerick.
The support cage the men were using gave way and they fell into the waters below.
The two men are believed to have been harnessed and became trapped underwater when the cage fell into the river.
A third man who was also working on the bridge was not seriously injured in the incident.
TJ O’Herlihy is believed to have been working his first day on the job.
Bobby O’Connell, a Fine Gael councillor in Castleisland said that his family are well-known in the area and that he was well-liked.
“It was very sad the way it happened. He got a choice of work in Limerick or Dublin and chose Limerick to be close to his family.
“I saw it on the six o’clock news on Saturday and of course you’d be sad, but it really brings it home when it’s one of your own community.
“We didn’t realise until about eight the true magnitude of what had happened for our community. It really comes home when it’s someone you know and like.
“I would have known TJ since he was a child. His family, his father Timothy and his mother Sheila, would be very well known in the community.
“The whole community is in mourning. He was involved in everything and there was never a bad word about him.”
A funeral mass for TJ will be held on Friday in his home town.
The other man killed in the accident, Bryan Whelan, was remembered as a “true Gael” by his local GAA club.
“Bryan was a true Gael and a respected member of the club and will be sadly missed by all his friends.”
He was reposing at Mc Mahon Funeral Home in Blackwater, and hundreds turned out for his removal 6pm to Kilbane Church this evening.
His funeral mass takes place at 12 noon today with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.
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