‘Gentleman’ who died in building site accident

‘Gentleman’ who died in building site accident

26 April 2017

THE funeral of Kilcoo man Conor Morgan, who died in a building site accident in Scotland last week, will be held in the village church on Friday morning.

The 45 year-old father-of-three died while working at the site in Blantyre in South Lanarkshire on Wednesday morning. 

It is hoped his body will be brought home today following the completion of a post-mortem and his funeral mass will be held at St Malachy’s Church on Friday at 11am.

Mr Morgan’s death has devastated the local community, which has this week paid tribute to him as a “true gentleman”.

Online tributes have been led by a spokesman for St Malachy’s Parish, Kilcoo, who offered condolences to Mr Morgan’s wife Shirleen, his sons Gerard, Anthony and Jason, his mother Brigid, brothers Patrick and Niall and sisters Mary Teresa, Pauline and Rita, on his “untimely and tragic death”.

Several friends have joined a Facebook tribute, remembering Mr Morgan, a devoted father to his three teenage sons, as a “gentleman”.

“A gentleman, decent soul and always a welcoming smile,” wrote one, while another another recalled happy times with his friend who he described as a “true gentleman”.

The chairman of Kilcoo GAA Club, Terry O’Hanlon, described Conor as “a model father” who encouraged his sons to do their best for the club where Conor had played until his early 20s before travelling to England and Scotland with his lorry driving.

“The three boys are replicas of him,” said Mr O’Hanlon.

“They were all very close to their dad and he really was a model family man, with his wife Shirleen doing great work for the club too.

“It is an absolute tragedy and we’re all just devastated. Conor was in the middle of building a new house for the family, so it’s just a terrible thing to happen but we’re all thinking of them and will do whatever we can.”

South Down MP Margaret Ritchie and Assemblyman Chris Hazzard have also offered their condolences to Mr Morgan’s family.

Miss Ritchie said he was a “very hardworking man” who would be greatly missed by his family who were suffering “immeasurable grief”.

“A deeply stoical family, they are remarkably resilient in the face of such tragedy,” she said.

Describing Mr Morgan as “very popular and friendly”, Mr Hazzard said he was well liked in the Kilcoo area.

Canon Sean Rogan, of St Malachy’s Parish, said Conor was a hard-working member of the community.

“We had a 5.30 mass here on Easter Sunday and Conor was there, and after that he got in his lorry and went off to work. It’s so sad, so tragic,” he said.