Ciaran Hagan, 20, Dermot Thornton, 21, Brian O'Neill, 19, and Gary McCormick, 20, were all due to attend yesterday's wedding. All four men were killed instantly just hours before the celebrations when the two cars in which they were travelling collided on the Monaghan-Newbliss road just outside the village.

The four young men were close friends and had known each other their entire lives.

They all attended school locally, first at St Mary's National School and later at St Macartan's College, or Beech Hill College. They also played Gaelic football for the local Sean McDiarmada club and had played on the same teams since they were 10 years old.

A fifth man, who remains critical in hospital, was also a lifelong friend. The 27-yearold man, who was placed on a life support machine following Saturday morning's horrific crash, is today surrounded by family members in hospital.

Gardai have appealed for witnesses to the crash and have asked for anybody who was in the area between 1.30am and 2.30am to contact them. The crash is believed to have taken place at 2.15am.

It is believed that all five men had been socialising in Threemilehouse prior to the accident. The cars were travelling in opposite directions when they crashed.

Preliminary investigations of the crash scene have suggested that only one of the five men was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the impact.

Gardai believe the two cars were travelling on the same side of the road at high speeds when the crash happened.

Shops and pubs in the village were closed yesterday as news of the crash spread.

People gathered in the local church at 10am yesterday morning for a special service conducted by local parish priest Fr Joe McClusky.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, McClusky said tragedy had never hit the area on such a scale before. He described all the deceased young men as being very popular and well known in the community. He said it would take young people in the area a long time to get over the tragedy. The priest visited all the families yesterday morning. The parents of one of the dead men are believed to be holidaying abroad.

"The families are absolutely devastated, " he said. "We can only pray that they will find the strength to get through this."

Two of the deceased, Dermot Thornton and Gary McCormick, worked together in Treanor Fireplaces, just outside the village. Brian O'Neill was a first-year student at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, while Ciaran Hagan had just returned from the continent on Friday morning, having worked on a wind farm project for some time.

Brian O'Neill and Gary McCormick lived a few houses away from each other in the Cabra housing estate in the village. The injured man also lives in this estate.

Local councillor Benny Kieran knew all the victims through his involvement in the local GAA club. He said the entire area is stunned by the accident. "You hear about communities being hit by tragedies like this but it is hard to imagine what they go through until it happens to your own, " he said.

The stretch of road where the accident occurred had recently been widened and was not considered dangerous. According to Kieran, it is "hard to fathom" how an accident of this magnitude could take place on the road.

Gardai hope that anybody who was in the company of the men earlier in the night might help with their investigation. Specifically, they are trying to explain why the cars were travelling in opposite directions.

One explanation being given locally is that one of the cars might have been returning to the village to pick up passengers when it collided with the other.

Gardai preserved the scene for technical examination and the road was closed until yesterday evening. Superintendent Joe Sullivan has appealed for anyone who might be able to help the investigation to come forward.

The village, however, remains largely closed. Shops and pubs did not open for business yesterday morning as locals struggled to take in the news.

According to local councillor Seymour Crawford, it will take a long time for this closeknit community to recover from the horrific events of Saturday morning. In a village where everybody knows everybody, there will not be a single person untouched by the tragedy, said Crawford.

The village of Threemilehouse is "absolutely devastated", he said.