THE second young man hit by a stolen car in Cork on St Patrick's Day has died. Mr Stephen Kirby (17), of Park View, on the north side of Cork city had been in intensive care since the incident.
On Monday night he had accompanied his friend, Mr Trevor O'Connell (17), to a chip shop in the area when a stolen car driven at speed crashed into them.
Mr O'Connell died at the scene of the crash and Mr Kirby was taken to the Cork University Hospital with serious injuries.
He was on a life support machine and sources at the hospital said from the outset that his chances of survival were minimal.
Mr O'Connell and Mr Kirby were boyhood friends and had played soccer together since childhood. Mr O'Connell, whose remains were removed to his local church last night and whose funeral will take place today, had been watched by scouts attached to the Derby County football team and was due to have had a trial for the club on the youth side next season.
Both he and Mr Kirby had been watching television before they went to a local takeaway.
They both walked the short distance to the chip shop, and were returning to the O'Connell house on a footpath when a stolen car ran into them, threw them into the air, and left them unconscious.
Mr Kirby's death brings to three the number of young people who have died on Cork's northside over the past month as a result of car theft and car racing.
Almost a month ago to the day, Christopher O'Flynn (11) died when the stolen car in which he was a passenger crashed. The driver was 15.
Last night Stephen Kirby's mother, Ms Sheila Kirby, his father, Pat, his two brothers, Michael and Gary, and his sister, Martina, appealed to the media to allow the family to grieve alone and asked for no intrusion.